"My Dear Old Friend"
Florence was back in her hotel room, curled up on her couch. She had told herself not to cry anymore. Whenever she would feel more tears coming to her, she would take a deep breath and blink rapidly.
There was nothing in the room that could take her mind off this situation. She would not risk turning off the television or radio, as most channels would probably keep talking of the championship or the defection. It was the same thing with any magazine or newspaper inside the room. She just wouldn't be able to take it anymore.
Either way, there was probably nothing that would take her mind off today's events.
Tomorrow she would fly back to England. She had found out from Walter that Anatoly had flown back with Svetlana right that night, therefore, he would be on the plane the next day. He would be going straight to Russia, not bothering to get his things from their house in England. Just like a year ago, when he hadn't gotten anything from Russia, and only had his belongings he had taken with him on the trip. One of the first things he had to do in London was go shopping, and Florence had accompanied him for that.
Once again, Florence shut her eyes and focused away from that memory.
As organized as she always was, she had packed both their stuff from the hotel the day before, so she had no more worries that day.
When she had gotten back to the hotel from the championship, she had noticed that Anatoly had already been inside and had taken his bags. Florence had suspected this, and had delayed her arrival on purpose. She thought that they had already said a good-enough goodbye in the garden. Besides, he had seen her talking to Walter, and she didn't want him asking any questions about her father. What was done was done. He had made his decision to choose Svetlana, his children, and his home in Russia. She didn't want him to pity her and change his mind if he found out that her father was never really found.
The next day after the championship game, Freddie was walking towards Walter's office. When he got there, he saw that the door slightly ajar, and was about to go through it, when he suddenly heard an angry voice inside that caught his ears.
"Imagine if the two of them had talked before he left! He could've decided not to defect back! Florence would had told him that we lied about her father being alive and Anatoly would be gone for good. Why couldn't you wait until he had left to tell her? You could've ruined everything!"
Freddie froze. He couldn't believe his ears. The voice had belonged to Molokov. Molokov and Walter had lied to Florence about her father being alive. He couldn't believe it. Why didn't he see this coming?
"Freddie," Walter said. He was facing the door and saw the former champion approaching the office.
Molokov turned around to look at Freddie, then turned back to Walter. "Goodbye, Walter," he said. "Perhaps we'll meet again someday." He then turned to Freddie again. "Mr. Trumper, I'll be going back to Russia today. Perhaps we'll also meet up again someday."
Molokov started to exit Walter's office, but was detained by Freddie entering.
"You lied to Florence about her father being alive? You hurt her in the cruelest and most cowardly way just so you could get Sergievsky back to Russia?"
Freddie had found out several days earlier about Florence's father being alive, and, though he didn't really show that he cared, he was truly happy for her. He knew how much that meant to her. He didn't believe it at first. Now he knew he was right not to believe him. Molokov and Walter were a pair of sleazy scumbags. How could he, former world chess champion, ever be allies with them.
"Listen, Mr. Trumper...," Molokov started.
"No!" Freddie interrupted. "There is no excuse for what you did!"
"I had to do what I had to do! I wasn't going to let some troubled woman's feelings get in the way!"
Freddie launched a blow at Molokov's face, knocking him down. He got on top of him and they continued to exchange blows.
Walter took action and tried to pry them apart. After a few moments he got Freddie off of Molokov, but Freddie quickly fought back and started going at Walter instead.
Once Molokov got up, Freddie was throwing punched at both men. He was blinded by his intense anger.
Due to the two-to-one difference, the two men easily fought Freddie off.
"Freddie, calm down!" Walter said.
The three men were panting. Molokov chose that moment to send a final glare to the two men, and then exited the room for good.
"You two are such-" Freddie started.
"Freddie!" Walter exclaimed.
"How could you lie to her! You know how she feels about the situation with her father."
"There were other people's lives involved! Molokov said the KGB promised to release various captured American spies if Anatoly defected back."
"And was that a lie too?"
"I don't think so. I would hope not. Besides Molokov never told me that it was all a lie until after the game."
Freddie glared at him.
"I did suspect something was going on, though," Walter continued. "But like I said they agreed to release the spies, so I couldn't let them down."
Freddie shook his head. "I can't believe this," he continued. "She must be so heart broken right now."
He turned to look at Walter. "So now that you all got what you want, you won't need me anymore, right?"
"You still have your job, Freddie."
"I don't want it anymore, thank you."
"You don't want your job as a reporter, or you don't want your job at Global?"
"Both."
"Well then, what are you planning to do?"
"I don't know. I'll figure it out."
"Are you going back to play chess."
"I officially retired, so I won't be entering the world championship, but chess is my life. I'll find something. I am the former champion, after all. The one that lost his last match because he couldn't keep his personal life away."
"If you ever need anything," Walter said sincerely. "Just let me know."
Freddie nodded, and then walked out.
Outside, Freddie immediately thought of Florence. 'She's probably gone,' he thought. 'But it doesn't hurt to check.'
He got to her hotel and quickly ran to the elevator and to her room. He knocked on her door. He was about to knock again, when the door opened, and he saw Florence's saddened face. She had obviously been crying, and had washed her face, but wasn't able to hide her bloodshot eyes.
"Freddie," Florence started. "I thought it was going to be somebody from the staff about to kick me out."
"For being too rowdy?" Freddie joked.
"No, because I should be out of here by now, but I overslept, so I'm late."
"You overslept? That'll be a new one!" 'Sergievsky had corrupted you,' Freddie was about to add, but he didn't think mentioning the Russian would make Florence smile at all.
But he 'was' able to bring a smile to Florence's face.
"Freddie, what happened to you?"
"What do you mean?" Freddie guessed that Florence was about to ask him why he had turned into such a jerk.
"Your face."
"What," Freddie said, and he instantly raised a hand to feel his face. "Oh."
"You're all red and bruised! You got into a fight?"
"Yeah, uh..."
Just then, the cleaning personnel arrived outside the door.
"I was just leaving," Florence said, and she went inside to get her bags, and she exited out. She and Freddie made their way to the front desk.
"Can we talk somewhere else, though?" Freddie asked.
"I should be at the airport in about twenty minutes."
"We can talk on your way there. I am going to be buying a ticket anyways."
"What about your things."
"Right, I'll just get a ticket for tonight, I guess, but I'll still go with you to the airport... if that's okay with you."
"Sure. I'm definitely interested in knowing how your face got demolished."
"Hey, I did pretty good considering it was two against one! And, if you ask me, they also looked pretty beat up at the end."
"Wow! Now I really want to know the whole story."
"Naw, it's not that interesting. Just some guys at the park who wanted to steal my wallet." Freddie figured it was best not to tell her about the confrontation with Walter and Molokov.
"And what happened at the end? Did you give it to them."
"No, they ran off."
"Really? You must've really put up a fight, or they weren't that interested in it. But next time, you might not be so lucky. You should give them whatever so that you don't get into any danger. Your wallet isn't worth it."
Freddie smiled. He had to admit he missed Florence's warnings and over-protection.
"I got that wallet after my first salary from Global."
Florence didn't say anything else, as they had arrived at the front desk. She checked out and the two of them walked out. They quickly found a taxi and made their way to the airport.
"So," Florence continued. "How's your job at Global Television?"
"I quit today."
"What?"
"Yeah, my thing is chess, not TV."
"So what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know. I'll be going back to the U.S., and I'll figure it out from there."
"I think I'll be going back to the U.S., too."
"What, really?"
"Yeah, I don't want to be in England anymore. There's no use. I was planning on maybe going to Hungary, but my Hungarian isn't even that good. There no point, anyways. I plan to sell the house and move back across the pond."
"Picked up some English-English now, have you?" Freddie joked.
"I 'was' there for a whole year." Florence replied in a surprisingly good British accent. "I picked up a few things."
"Well, if you ever need anything, don't doubt on calling me."
"Yes, thank you very much, Freddie."
They were soon going to be arriving at the airport. Freddie suddenly remembered why he had come to see Florence in the first place.
"Flo, I... I overheard Molokov and Walter talking today. I'm sorry about your father. I didn't know they lied about it."
Florence sighed, "Yeah, I should've seen it coming."
Freddie shook his head. "Me too," he said angrily.
"But, oh well, I lived almost twenty-five years without him. I can live twenty-five more, and then some."
The taxi had arrived at the airport.
"I'll pay for it," Freddie said. "I'm going to need to go back to the hotel."
"Oh, thank you," Florence replied. "Well, I guess this is good-bye."
"Or an 'until next time.'"
"You're right. I'll be looking forward to seeing you in the States." Florence smiled.
Freddie smiled back. "Good-bye, Flo."
"Good-bye, Freddie, thanks for everything."