The silly fight

"Alright!" Willow Sr. suddenly clapped his hands. "Bong, prepare the board!" he instructed while rolling up both his sleeves.

Butler Bong was already on standby, for he already knew about the routine that both Willow Sr. and Zen practiced after breakfast.

"Hehe, brat let's go for one round. I'll make sure to win against you today," he said confidently before helping Bong to arrange the chess pieces on the board.

Zen sighed while still looking at Ava. Seconds later, he finally paid attention to Willow Sr. "Are you sure, sir?" his tone was teasing and that invited a harrumphed from the old man sitting across him.

"Brat, I'm in a good mood today. Of course, I'll win," he declared. Everyone could notice the brimming confidence in his voice. Zen managed a smile and proceed to position his own army on the board.

Ava wasn't paying attention to what was happening on the table. She was busy observing the boy in front of her, wondering how much information had he known about the Willow Household.

'To know the answer, I need to be his friend or else he will not share anything,' she thought. Then, she proceeds to finish the last piece of food on her plate while planning the steps to make Zen becomes her friend.

The moment Ava walked out of the orphanage, she made herself a promise to find a friend, even better a best friend. Someone that she could talk about anything and everything.

Right now, she was aiming for Zen not only because of the knowledge he had but also due to the small gap between their ages as well as the proximity.

She was uncertain when could she meet others similar to her age. That's why Zen was her first target since they were living together at the same house.

Those were her so-called reasons to befriend Zen when in all truth, these reasons were to masquerade the desire and the need to fend against the loneliness sealed at one corner of her heart.

Ava had been chewing for a while now, and soon, the bland taste inside her mouth made her lose appetite. She asked for a glass of water and Anna who was on standby swiftly carried out her request.

While drinking, Ava saw the eagerness on his grandpa's face as well as the energetic action he showed.

She smiled, happiness enshrined her after seeing him back to his normal self. That was when she noticed the details on the board and pieces they arranged on top of the table.

Each piece was distinctive from one another except the one arranged at the very front. "What's that?" she asked curiously. Her loud voice attracted their attention.

"This?" they both asked. Somehow not believing that Ava had never seen a chessboard. Willow Sr. was even more surprised for Ava's record books stated that one of her achievements was learning the game of chess.

'Is she pretending to never see a chessboard?' they inwardly thought.

"Ohh, I see, this is a chessboard. I've seen one with a different design," Ava somehow responded to their inner thought which shocked the old man and the boy that was now looking at her like looking at a ghost.

"Why? Do the two of you think that I'm lying?" Ava pouted once she saw the bizarre look on their faces.

She knew chessboard, but the one she had seen before was simply round pieces with a worn-out board made from paper.

Furthermore, the pieces she used to play had a drawing on top of it which similar to the well-crafted pieces she had seen today. She happily played with one of the pieces, the knight, her favorite.

"What's wrong? Do play. I want to see it. Grandpa if you need help, I know a trick or two," she was almost annoyed but managed to smile happily towards her grandpa.

"Hahaha, Zen. You're so dead today. I have Ava to help me win," Willow Sr. coughed and patted Zen's shoulder, giving him the signal to not ask anything.

Zen, however, was looking at Ava. He was planning something and about to execute it. 'Who told you that this is a chessboard? It's a mahjong-board' he spoke in his mind.

Ava chuckled. "Earlier you both said that this is a chessboard. You lied too late. Besides, now that I remembered, I have played a few games of chess before. Except, the set design was completely different. They were small and round," she jeered at Zen before sharing her experiences.

"Hmm..." Zen nodded his head in knowing.

"What?" Ava asked. "You are unexpectedly bizarre," Zen murmured.

"What?" once again, the girl asked. Her voice higher.

"Nothing. Little girl, have you really played before?" Zen smiled and somehow that smile looked like a challenge in Ava's eyes.

"Are you challenging me?" Ava rose one of her brows before having the last sip of her drink.

Standing up, she looked at Willow Sr. and asked, "Grandpa, please, can I play in your stead?" her voice sounded like she was pleading to play.

Willow Sr. stared at his granddaughter and then to Zen. He too was confused at what Zen was doing earlier. But, when he saw the two of them bickers, gratifying laughter erupted in the room.

Zen and Ava looked at each other before they decided to ignore the old man. Who knew what he was thinking?

Shaking their heads, they proceed to finalize the positions of their own pieces. Ava chose to be on offensive and Zen agreed to be on the defensive.

"Little girl, you sure you can win?" Zen asked. He tried not to sound too sarcastic but in the end, he indeed asked in a sarcastic way.

"You keep calling me Little girl, and I'll make sure you'll regret it later," Ava threatened him. She disliked being called 'little' by Zen because there wasn't that much difference between their size and height. She was okay if her grandpa was the one calling her 'little girl, little princess or little Ava' because it was a fact that can be proven by measurement.

"We just met and you're already threatening me?" the boy sighed showing his disappointment.

Ava looked at him in bewilderment. "And how about you? We just met and you already teasing me while making up weird nickname on top of it," she complained only to see him smirked.

"But you are the one who started it. Remember the doll?" he retaliated.

"That was a compliment!" defending herself, Ava scowled at the boy who was looking at her. The smirk on his face was irritating to look at.

"No boys will like that kind of compliment. Well, now that I look at you, you're kinda muscly, do you want me to call you hulk?"

Ehhh? Ava blinked multiple times. She couldn't believe that the boy just painted her green. Besides, the simile was too weird and impossible.

"That's utter nonsense! What muscle?!" she gritted her teeth. Anymore, her patient would blow away. Still, she spared her body a look of inspection to see the muscle Zen was talking about.

"Ahh, sorry. It's not muscles but more like unwanted fats," that was when Ava's patient shattered to nothingness.

She stared at the boy in a white t-shirt for some time. Her chest went up and down. She was really angry. The moment she decided to vent her anger, Zen's next word made her confused, totally forgetting what she was angry about.

"Little girl, I'm sorry, checkmate!"

"Huh?" Ava stared at the chessboard in front of her. Recalled every move she had made and finally recalling the one Zen made.

"Oh!" she sighed. That was when her grandpa gave her several pats on the shoulder. Looking at him, Ava showed a cheated expression.

"Grandpa, is this how you lose every time?" she asked. Willow Sr. nodded and looked at her sympathetically.

"You should have told me," Ava couldn't help but complain.

"Sorry little princess, I just want to see myself in yours. All these while, I had been playing silly fights," his reply made Ava speechless.

'So, I was playing the silly fight too?' she thought with a distressing feeling.