Hey,

I can't say much about this chapter just that it took me longer than I expected. I just felt I wanted to go another way, this chapter is something that was so fun to me. I hope you all love it. If you read and you like it, please let me know in a review.

Enjoy,

TempeGeller

Love after Chess

Chapter 8: A child's curiosity

Ilona thought about it, she was pretty proud of her mother being a chess player. But as she moved through the library, she thought about her mother being a chess player in 1981. She wanted to know who she was working with, she wanted to know everything about her mother. She wanted to know if she could know any of the chess players she worked with, her mother was so talented as a chess player, she could only imagine the players she had been helping. She moved her way through the books and ended up between the books of chess. 'Chess, a history' was a book that was only published in the last years. It held a look to the world of chess between 1960 and 1987. She opened the book to find a picture of Anatoly on the very first page, it was an older picture, taken in '81. When he won for the second time, beside him she saw her mother. 'What is my mom doing next to the world champion?', she wondered as she read the word. Florence Vassy, the second of Anatoly. She didn't understand, hadn't Anatoly said he once loved his second. Was her mother that second? His arm was around her shoulders, he did look at her in pain. Why would he leave her mother? She needed to figure this out, she opened the book to the name Florence Vassy.

'Florence Vassy was born in Szob on 5th August 1981. 5 years later she fled Hungary and grew up in London with her aunt. At the age of 18, she became the second of a beginning chess player Frederick Trumper (21 at that time)'
Her mother was Freddie's seconds, that is how they met. She saw a picture of Florence and Freddie, right next to him was Anatoly and his second. A man she had never seen in her life before, Freddie had his arms tangled around her mother. Things were started to get more complicated.
"What are you doing sweetiepie?" Florence walked to her. "What are you reading?"
"Nothing." She closed the book. She stepped next to her mom and followed her to some other child department. She moved her hands over the covers. Her sister was reading Alice in Wonderland. She took a book, but she really didn't read it. She thought about the picture, about Anatoly and about her mom. Her mother said her father had left, Anatoly said that he left his second. What if they were one and the same person? What if Anatoly was her father? After all Sander had uncanny resembles. She needed to do something, she needed to know.
"Mom, can I return to the room?" She opened her eyes wider. "I want to play some chess with grandpa."
"Okay, sweetie." Florence kissed her.

Ilona didn't like it, lying to her mother, yet there was nothing else she could do. She needed to know the truth, was Anatoly her father? Why was he never around? Did he know she existed and ignored her? Was he the reason her mother cried late at night? How could such a man be so mean, she didn't understand? Had the game of chess because her mother so much pain? A game was not worth that, she started to run. Right to the info desk.
"Can I help you?" the woman stared at the child.
"Anatoly Sergievsky." She stared at him. "What room is he in?"

"Why do you want to know?" the woman raised her eyebrow.
"I'm his daughter." She replied.
"Room 1105." The woman spoke.

She smiled and ran away. Okay, was this her smartest idea? Was she just going to ask him if he knew Florence Vassy? Was she going to ask if he loved Florence Vassy? Was she going to ask if she knew Florence had had his babies? What was she actually going to do? She hadn't figured that out when she got in the elevator, a plan didn't come to mind when she stepped of the elevator at the 11th floor and it hadn't formed when she knocked on the door. It wasn't Anatoly who opened up the door, it was Svetlana.
"Auntie…" She hugged her right away.
"What are you doing here, Ilona?" Svetlana smiled at her. "How did you know I was staying here?"
"Why are you in Anatoly's room?" She stared at Svetlana. It was not much later Anatoly walked to the door, calling out 'who's there?'. He smiled as he saw the child, she almost directly leaped in his arms, as if she was sure he was her father.
"Calm down, Munchkin." He smiled. "What are you doing here?"
"The second." She stared in his eyes. "The one you loved and lost, was her name Florence Vassy?"
"Her name was Florence Vassy."
"Anatoly, how do you know this girl?" Svetlana stared at the girl.
"We met in the lobby, she's a pretty terrific chess player." He smiled. "Ilona, this is my wife. Svetlana."
Wife? Ilona opened her eyes wider, things started to get complicated, she was her aunt. How could her aunt he her father's wife? And why hadn't he married her mother? And if he was her father, why had Svetlana never told Anatoly and if she did tell, he didn't care about her. Her eyes became smaller, she took a step back.
"Do you feel like a game?" She shook her head as she ran out of the room. She was upset, Anatoly wanted to follow her. Svetlana stopped her. 'I know how to calm a child better', she said as she followed Ilona. She caught up with her in the elevator.

"He's my dad, isn't he?" She closed her eyes. "Yet he doesn't care. He…"
"He doesn't know he's your father." Svetlana put her hand on her back. "Things are way to complicated for you to understand."
"Why didn't you tell him?" Ilona turned to him. "Why didn't you tell him I was his daughter? Were you scared that…"
"Your mom thought it was for the better…" Svetlana kneeled down in front of her seeing the anger in her eyes. "Look, your uncle Freddie told your mom that Anatoly didn't care about her anymore."
"But he's obviously…"
"He does." Svetlana spoke. "I know, he misses your mom more than anything and I could tell him, but your uncle Freddie threatened me. He said he would make sure my kids would get hurt. I didn't want that, so I didn't tell your mother. It was for the best."
"For the best?" She turned away. "I don't understand adults, sometimes. All the time."

"Ilona, you can't tell anyone about this." Svetlana looked at her. "You can't tell Anatoly you're his daughter, your mom doesn't want it and there is danger from Freddie."
"That's not right!"

Ilona sat down in front of the chess board, she couldn't stop thinking about what her aunt Svetlana had said. Well, biologically she wasn't her aunt, but she didn't have any biological sisters, so Svetlana was the only aunt she actually had. Maybe she would have family through her father, but her father didn't know that she was in fact his daughter. This was so complicated, even for her. She didn't want the children of Svetlana to be hurt, she just wanted her mother to be happy again. And she wanted to have a father. She stepped from one side to the other, she wanted to know him. She couldn't understand it, nothing in chess was this difficult, you couldn't hurt anyone in this game. The thing she was dealing with today could have a lot of casualties.

Florence thought about Ilona playing chess with Anatoly, it was a cute moment, yet this cute moment complicated everything. What if Ilona started to question the entire situation? What if she found out that she had been Anatoly's second, she was a smart kids, she figured out everything. There was a chance she could actually figure out Anatoly was her father. She moved her hand over her forehead; she didn't think her 8 year old child would be the problem. She thought she would spill the beans, she never assumed Anatoly and Ilona would meet each other. What did she need to do? Get clean with her daughter, tell her everything. She was only 8 years old, even with her major intelligence; she would never be able to understand.

She felt her cheeks getting paler as she let the emotion run through her body, she couldn't breath, she would not be able to speak if she saw Anatoly right now. The door opened, revealing Freddie. Florence released a smile as she put her hands to her head.
"What's going on with you, Florence?"

"I think I will need to come clean." Florence shook her head. "They are banding, Freddie. He's the only one that gets her out of her shelf; I think she's going to figure out. That means she's going to spill the beans to her, she's a sweet child. She deserved a father."
"Not a father who doesn't give a shit about..."
"Honestly, Freddie." She opened her eyes wider. "The man I saw cared for an unknown girl on a table, I think he would care about my child. I mean we once loved each other, right. He deserves to know."
"So you want to give him the opportunity to take them away from you?"

"He would never do that to me, like I said we once loved each other, it doesn't mean he's still madly in love with me. He would never hurt me like that." She had tears in her eyes. "Maybe he's just putting up an act towards you, I mean you know how complicated things were between us."
"You don't know what he's become." Freddie put his hand to hers. "He's become mean, cruel, hateful, he would do anything to make your life bad. Including taking away your children in revenge for you not telling him."
"He would understand." She turned away from him. "The man I saw playing with my child was not hateful, not cruel and not mean. He was the endearing Anatoly I love and remember. That man would never hurt me."
"Do you remember how Anatoly left Svetlana?" He opened his eyes wider. "How he didn't give a shit about you or Svetlana? This man cares about two things: chess and himself."

"I don't believe that." She turned herself away from him, tapping her foot at the beat of the block passing. "I mean I can't change the way I feel…"
"Florence, he doesn't deserve you or the kids." He put his hand to her shoulder. "Why won't you see that I'm the only person that loves you with no end, the only one who deserves you."
"I don't know Freddie." She turned away. "Things were too complicated when we were going out. You were too obsessive, we just didn't match. As a boyfriend, you made me doubt myself. You made me the worst version of myself and I didn't like that person."
"Florence, I love you, things could be different."
"No, they can't, Freddie." She turned away. "You always say that, it's wasn't one time during our relationship you had that revelation, it never lasted. You always went back to your ways, that's not my fault or your fault. Freddie, both of us are too different. We'll always have that problem, the two of us are just not meant to be together. Maybe with someone else, things can be different."
"But Florence, I love you, come back to me."
"Freddie…" She turned her face away from him. "Don't. Just don't, drop these things, I can't be reminded what I can't give to you Freddie. I don't want to hurt you, but I don't love you like that anymore, I mean I do love you, like a friend."
"What's the difference anyway?" He turned to her. "Don't tell me we're over or that we can never be more than friends, you can love me once again. And you don't need to love me, I need you. I'll love you for the both of us."
"Don't you hear how wrong that sounds?" She twisted her face to the left. "You want to be my pity person, because I can't have Anatoly. I don't hate you, Freddie. That's why I can't do that, I can't trap you in a loveless relationship and that is what this thing will grow too, it did more than once. I never saw, but now I do. I felt what real love felt like and it doesn't feel like that. Trust me, Freddie. You too disserve better…"

"Please, Florence." He fell to his knees. "I need you, I need every side of you. I can't live without having every piece of you. You don't know how I miss our relationship."
"You don't remember the bad things right…" She opened her eyes wider. "The sleepless nights, the shattered glass, the fights, all of the things that kept the both of us up. You have chosen to forget them and I get why you do. I understand, I do. I just think that our relationship had more bad points than good ones, our friendship has only happy memories for me. I don't want to give up something positive for something I don't want to go back to."
"Well…."
He didn't say anything, he didn't want to lose Florence as a friend and any word that he thought would do such a thing. So he just hugged her, agreeing with every word she had just said. Even if he would never agree with them, maybe he needed to work on that relationship for a couple of more years. Or had he gotten stuck in the friendship zone, a zone that was impossible to get out off. Could Florence never fall with him again? Or was there still something in heart that could be transferred in romantic love. There was something he needed to do, what if Ilona would know the truth about all his ways, she would truly tell Florence and there was no way Florence wouldn't learn about the lies he had been telling for 8 years. All the lies he actually told about Anatoly not caring anymore, all of those lies would not mean a thing if they were together. If they weren't they would seem controlling and not loving. He turned around, stepping in the elevator, he was immediately joined by Ilona, the child who could know everything.
"How could you do it?" Ilona spoke. He knew that she knew everything, about the lies and about her father. He only needed those words. He stared at her, he bit on his lip. He didn't know what to say, what did you say to an 8 year old? He couldn't actually threaten her, that would get to Florence and if there was someone she cared more for then him, it was the kid. He never cared about it, but now he was on thin ice.
"What do you mean, Munchkin?"
" I do know about all your lies to my mom and to Anatoly." She turned her face the same way Florence had done a couple of moments ago. "Or should I say my dad? Why would you tell my mom Anatoly doesn't love her, when he clearly does."
"Listen, kid." He stepped in front of her. "What are you going to do? Tell your mother? You think that that will solve everything, it won't solve anything. Do you think she will believe you over me? A child? Do you think that will bring you and your father together, maybe your mother doesn't love your father anymore, we're pretty close to getting together."
"I heard you talk." She raised an eyebrow. "Just because I'm shy, doesn't mean I don't know how to eavesdrop. Which means I know that she would choose me over you."
"Don't say a word…" He picked her up, shaking the child for a while. "Don't you dare tell her, you stupid child! Did you hear that! If you're smart, you'll shut your mouth. Can you do that?"
"Why would I shut my mouth for you?" She kept her lips pressed together, her eyes showed determination. "You are harming my mother without any reason and I won't let it."
That was too much, he put her back to the ground and slammed his fist to her left cheek. The child pulled her hand to where the pain came from, she started to cry. The child's blue's eyes were starting to get red.
"So, do you think about shutting up already?"
"No." She said as his fist connected with her other cheek. At that time the elevator door opened, showing the face of Anatoly. Just at that moment Freddie hit her for a second time. Anatoly immediately stepped in between them, that way Freddie was no longer able to hit the child.
"Pick someone of your own size." Anatoly stared at her. "What has this child ever done to you?"
"Look, this child has been disrespecting me." Freddie laughed. "I'm just trying to show her the rules. Right, Ilona."

"I say that her mother and father won't agree with that." Anatoly stared at her.
"I am her father and I obey the rules."
"No, you're not!" She screamed. Anatoly stared at him, pressing the first floor that was close to theirs. He could ask if Freddie got off, but he wasn't going to ask that. He knew that if he got ofo, with Ilona he could make sure the child was safe. So that is what he did. He pressed the button, getting of it when the doors opened. His hand was wrapped around the young girls hand. He pulled her from the elevator. He picked her up right away, examining the light bruises on her face. He pulled her in a hug.
"So is Frederick Trumper, really your father?"

"I wouldn't be in trouble if he was." She stared at him. "I'm not in trouble, he is. He's been lying to a lot of people and I know about them. I'm the only one that he doesn't have anything on."
"I know Freddie…" Anatoly turned to her. "What is this lie about?"
"I don't know if I can tell you."
"Why can't you?"
"Because you're involved."
"How so?"

"I'm your daughter."