F i f t e e n

Y o u r  M o v e

The sun decided to come out today, considering the fact that I had to wear shades whilst I cycled down to the city centre at midday. 

Traffic was the same, and the usual waiter that always took out the rubbish in the nearby cafe was there. Work was the same: if you considered my boss and their secretary constantly asking me questions and making me analyse more on the security basis of the projects.

That was what I complained to myself for the rest of the bike ride. They kept wanting me to make it perfect and try not to make any accidents or faults. To be honest, I understood the security. The company was tied to the British intelligence and I could be arrested for putting risk onto any of our work.

'Or maybe, they're waiting for you to see you finally fail,' In the back of my head, a small voice spoke to me but I shoved it back.

Nevertheless, I wanted a cup of tea. Or two. Or just a whole tea pot.

So when I entered the tea room, I first directed myself to the front counter. It was a new waiter, constantly stumbling at his words and wiping his hands on his apron but I ignored his behavior. After ordering a cup of tea and scones: I sauntered around to find the man I expected to meet.

By the time I saw his leather jacket and disheveled hair, I paused in my tracks. Across to his seat was a man, definitely much older to Lewis and I, and not even glancing at my friend. In fact, both of them were more concentrated at the game they were playing.

"Your move, young man." The elder ushered Lewis and he moved the knight. He then removed the single pawn from the board and he then noticed me.

Lewis smiled quickly and said, "Hi."

I raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Hi. Busy?"

"Oh no, no." Lewis carelessly toppled over another player on the chess board and the other man furrowed his eyebrows. "Just passing the time."

By playing chess?

The two were still playing once I received my cup of tea, a bowl of sugar cubes and scones. I was a bit amused, feeling a flicker of joy at their intense game. Even from Lewis' face: I saw him a little more relax than his usual self. I had not expected him to play.

By the time I took a bite, I heard a sigh of relief and a yes from Lewis. I glanced up and saw the queen that had defeated her opponent. My lips pursed to a side-smile and the two got up and shook each others hands as a sign of respect.

The older man then spotted me and asked, "I'm sorry if I had interrupted something here..."

"Oh no, it's fine." Both Lewis and I shook are heads and heard the man chuckle.

He thanked my friend once more for the game before he left our table. Continuing to eat, I switched chairs in order to face Lewis and the chess board. I raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know you played."

"Uh, yeah," He scratched the back of his neck before replacing the players back onto the board. "I used to play it all the time when I was younger. I was quite good, but I'm a bit rusty."

I asked back, "And you decided to play chess because..."

There was something that shone behind his sudden happiness. He was a bit more relaxed, as if he was staring back at me that he expected me to make a move on the board. And perhaps I was tempted. Lewis was urging me to play, not even knowing what might hit him.

"Why not?" He shrugged. "Why can't I share my childhood game with my friend?"

I smiled and spoke, "That's very personal of you."

Then he smirked. "Then you should be privileged. No one at the office knows that I can play."

"Seriously," I held a deadpanned expression before chuckling at his stubborn looks. "The Lewis Brindley: actually plays chess and no one knows it."

He then could not help to laugh at my unimpressed looks. 

We both set the board properly, making my pieces to be black whilst he operated the white ones. I took another sip and began placing a strategy on how'd I play it. Despite my concentration, there was a little distraction. Whenever I glanced up, Lewis' facial features almost made my face warm up. His furrowing eyebrows and his constant touch on his goatee made me raise eyebrows.

I never really looked at him like that. Yes: he looked exhausted by the dark circles under his eyes and his frail and skinny complexion (well he was going to the gym) could sense his fragile state. And not going to lie, he looked like a vampire shining under the pale sun.

Soon as he nodded and I agreed: we started the game.

He the first who pulled the first move, and I immediately sensed his strategy. It was awfully familiar, but I continued to move mine at ease, quickly and efficient.

I spoke whilst I placed the pawn over, "Who did you play with, when you were a child?"

It was out of the ordinary, watching him go rigid and pausing. Lewis then replied,  "A friend in my neighbourhood. It was quite funny actually." He flashed a smile, making me chuckle at his enthusiastic explanation about it. There were mentions of him beating his friend many times but most of the time was because he wanted to let her win.

"Oh what a gentleman," I spoke as I sipped my tea, and then finally knocked out his queen at an easy stage. "Checkmate, by the way."

Lewis' eyed gone wide, and I felt he could splutter out any words. "Holy...I mean. What? It's only been twenty minutes!"

"Then don't get distracted," I was a little cheeky at first, winking at the shocked man before taking another bite. His hands literally flew to his forehead - causing a hard slap and I handed him his fallen queen as a victory. My lips curled to a smile and I added, "Nice technique. Not what I expected...but yes."

Lewis grumbled and recollected the piece once more, implying for another game. It seems we still got more time to do another game, since he wasn't consuming alcohol to what I expected and I was not busy untangling problems at work. It was quite relaxing, to be honest. And I liked the thought of playing chess as we relaxed and talked about what has been happening.

While he placed the knight closer, he spoke: "Okay...my turn to ask you."

"Sure," I shrugged. "Ask away, Mister Brindley."

Lewis grinned at the name and I regret the boost of his confidence. The man was smug for the rest of the game. "Who taught you chess?"

"Um..." In fact: I actually never recollected my memories. Meaning: I never knew who actually taught me. "I don't really remember. Pippa hated it and Georgia was always busy. Dunno. Maybe my parents or something on the lines of that."

In honesty, I didn't wanted him to pry any longer. It was a touchy and sensitive part, and it did show once Lewis changed it completely and began talking about how his gym life was. That man had no boundaries, always making his trainer awkward and uncomfortable. Well to his expression, I knew that Lewis was getting along well despite his tired looks. He never really mentioned about his girlfriend, yet.

So then the subject on relationships turned, and I was forced to accidentally place my pawn on the wrong place. Internally, I swore and looked up to him asking more.

Lewis had just asked if I had any issues with George and Tom being always in our flat.

"Not really," I shrugged. "Katie and Trott are next door, so that's alright. Sometimes I bunk with them if George wants to have a fancy dinner thing with him. But nowadays they spend it at Tom's so I'm kind of alone in an apartment."

Lewis nodded in agreement. "At least you have them. I've got some 60 year old man and the first time I moved in, shouted at me for 'slamming' the door."

"You told me that two months ago," I raised an eyebrow and Lewis rolled his eyes and grumbled. "Clearly you can find another place?"

Lewis muttered, "I can't seem to find anywhere else around there. And most of the apartments are around yours. And they're flippin' on the top end." 

Internally, I raised an eyebrow. The man runs a company and could easily get a decent home in Bristol of all places.

"How about your girlfriend?" I asked interestingly and pushed the prying away from my tone. "You've been together for um...two-three months?"

Lewis' face seemed to lighten at the mention of the name, and I could almost sense the feeling of content in his eyes. The way he rambled on about how she was amazing and that how supportive she was as well as her free judgment on his work...again. It was the little things that made me wanted to listen, as it made curious as how relationships really worked.

And I promised George that I would try find some sort of relationship, why not get advice from Lewis?

"We're actually going to hang about in London tomorrow." He rambled on. "She wanted to show me some musical that was out. Thought I liked it since it had some cool costume designing. She likes them a lot."

It was my turn to move, and I quickly ended our second game by taking advantage of his day dreaming. I laughed at his stunned look and he sighed before even noticing the time. It had only been forty minutes, and that meant our times up with our lunch break. He packed his chess set quickly whilst I gone and put my jacket on. Lewis was still shaking his head as I grinned.

I nudged his shoulder, and I could sense the voices of that girl shouting the dogs name...

It was getting more ridiculous, but I hid my disbelief and shock from my friend; I didn't wanted him to worry me any longer. Lewis already had a lot in his mind, and my problems should be resolved by only myself and no one else.

After we exited the cafe, Lewis and I went to grab our bikes and we began our walk down to the cathedral. I wanted to say something, but finding the write words was difficult somehow. It was so easy to talk to Lewis often, but probably after what happened: I could sense his guilt lingering still. It was infuriating; why would he be so guilty still for what he had done?

"Lewis, " I watched him pause just as he was about to go. He turned around and could sense my tired face, "You shouldn't be guilty still...You haven't done anything wrong."

He shook his head, "[Y/N]. It's not that-I mean- I'm not guilty directly at you. More like what happened. I just don't want you to worry about me. I'm fine, honest."

"Just hope you enjoy Les Mis," I smiled to the side, wryly. He face changed and I knew it very well the show he was going to see. "And alright: I won't worry about you any longer... well probably at what's happening with you and your trainer but..."

"Shut up," He gestured back and I grinned at his laugh.

Finally, we did went our separate ways, hoping to find more work as usual.

____

The office was a little bit quieter as before, and I did not come across the incredulous looks that my coworkers had whenever they spotted me easily getting settled into work. My manager came one time at my desk, still hinting more on the project.

"We still have five more projects to do." My emotion did not reveal my curious mind, though they nodded it off.

My manager reassured me, "And they can be checked by others. It's fine, [Y/N]."

I blinked, not even trying to add any more prying. "I'll make sure the last tweaks would be done. But I might have to head over to the testing department for it."

"See," They grinned - almost to much teeth. "I know I can rely on you. I'll have Miss Matthews get back to me once you've got the stats." They left soon after, even ignoring the looks the next person beside me gave me once our own manager left to go back to their office.

I could not even see clearly the reasons why they needed my help. It was for the computer scientists to change the algorithms before I could test them. Though there were less people in that department, hence the quiet atmosphere in this department. So with a huff, I loaded up more on the detailed files and began my interesting hour of making the security better.

My colleague a desk away popped their head up and gazed at the screen. "Didn't know you could code the system? Who gave you permission?" He furrowed his eyebrows and almost subtly gestured at the silhouette in the background.

I wanted to say that it was our manager, but I shook my head. Because in truth, I did not notice my actions. By the time my colleague left to continue his work, I came across another file that was considered of the box for my position. It was all in another language, though luckily I did get a few words translated. It was a long document about the project. PROJECT L.A Something about passing through some files.

Just as I was getting through the second page, my senses clicked and heard heels walking towards me. I rushed to close the document and the whole software before rebooting it back to the where I was suppose to be finishing. Once I looked up, a pair of dark eyes glanced at mine. Her white teeth glistened and the smile reaching up to the point it was getting me a little curious at her position.

Miss Matthews spoke, "Hello, [Y/N]. The manager's wondering if you're ready to go the testing department?"

"Yes," I did not hesitate to stand. She stood over cowering my small figure, despite herself wearing heels and I resulted to wearing worn out black oxfords. I returned back a fake smile, just to push her buttons. Because honestly, how did Lewis get a girlfriend like this?

'This is your friend's girlfriend. Act civil and grow up.' I had to scold myself for my attitude, but I regretted it soon as she began talking all the irrelevant information - probably something about baking and going on cycle rides.

There was too much doubt whenever I saw Miss Matthews. My observations were right. Dog lover, cooking enthusiast. Goes to the gym twice a week and has a profession in business and management. However: it was almost too perfect; her flaws were too perfect.

Though maybe it was the pang in my heart which I could not understand why it always was there whenever Miss Matthews was there. For now, I was decoding that document in my head - it was all in one language my father used to be fluent on as well as I.

____

A/N: Hello! Finally another update. Thank you for waiting :) But yeah, I thought this chapter could have been written better, but I haven't had the time to do another read-through to alter some of the parts.

Once the story is completed: I would probably go back and change some of it.

I hoped you enjoyed reading :)

-SierraOwls