The Disaster Strikes

The game started with casual openings, pawns from both sides began moving forward through the centre. Then the back figures made their first steps on the battlefield, Maurice seemed to be more concentrated on moving bishops, while Sylvia was preferring to give more room for her knights. Their back and forth was fast and silent, Eugene could barely fathom their intentions and tactics. But just as the childish excitement overtook his face, the game tempo slowed down and Maurice did the unexpected. 

"Check." he said, while his queen threatened Sylvia's king. After mere seconds spent in thought, she ate the queen with her own, which resulted in both of these figures being out of the table.

"What the hell are you doing? You lost your queen!"

"Eugene, shut up." she said coldly, and Maurice along with other scholars shared a laugh. For now, the pace of the game slowed down completely. The chessboard looked like a minefield, no matter where Eugene would put one of the figures of both sides, it would trigger a destructive reaction. There were no safe spots.

"Are you the only chess club members? I expected it to be bigger." suddenly said Sylvia, which startled Maurice, "We have two more members who are away at the moment. This is not like the Seine University is a place for big chess club."

Sylvia made her move and nodded, "Indeed, the quality of education here is questionable, no wonder many prefer to study further away from here."

Eugene sighed in annoyance, but then noticed Maurice's brow twitch, the man said, "Well, it is not that bad. The faculty of art is quite out of place, I agree, but the natural science faculty is not that bad. Some of my acquaintances graduated and are now working for the US companies."

For a while, Sylvia played in hush. More and more pieces were being taken out of the board in both huge waves of massacre and single eliminations. Soon, the state of the board appeared to be in Maurice's favour, he still had attacking pieces like rooks and a bishop, as well as a pawn on its way for promotion. Sylvia's king was cornered, knights were attacking Maurice's king as well as monitoring the perimeter for blunder, her only defence line consisted of paws and a single rook.

"This does not look good." said one of the spectators who joined to observe the duel. The other one agreed, "She can still promote, only two moves left for the pawn."

Eugene was looking at Sylvia in concern, he knew that Maurice could beat her, but did not expect it to happen immediately. Her hair hid the face, making it harder for him to read Sylvia's mood, it must have been quite negative, considering Maurice's smug expression shined across the board.

It was Sylvia's turn. She moved her pawn forward, setting it for promotion. Maurice expected this move and put a rook to guard his last line. Then, she unexpectedly moved the pawn further, that was immediately devoured. However, such was her plan. She ate the rook with her knight and threatened Maurice's king. At first, the man was calm, but soon his cheeks dropped, leaving Eugene wondering about what happened.

"Seems like you finally noticed, Monsieur grandmaster. In chess, I hate knights the most, due to their sly move set, and that's why I prefer to play with them."

Maurice did not answer, but sloppily moved the king away from the knight. Then, Sylvia threatened his king again, but now simultaneously with the bishop. His king escaped once again, sacrificing the bishop, only to be taken down in two more moves.

"Checkmate!" happily exclaimed, Sylvia, making Eugene as well as other spectators excited about her win. However, Maurice was not too impressed. He clapped slowly, celebrating her win, and then said, "Well, I surely underestimated you here. Why do not we play again, though this time no handicap for you."

Eugene was quite confused by his statement, since he did not notice any space he gave for Sylvia. Perhaps, he lacked knowledge to notice it? Either way, he expected Sylvia to end everything here and now, especially after his statement, but his expectation was once again broken by her words.

"I agree, however, I need you to answer some of my questions."

"Questions? Whatever, that's no problem for me. Now it's my turn to start."

Maurice rotated the chessboard, even though there were only a few pieces left. Sylvia raised her brow, but ultimately readied her chess pieces. When they were ready, the opening sequence started once again, although not from centre, but slightly tilted to the side. It was not as intense as previously, both of them spent more time in thought for their opening moves.

After a few more moves and a small battle between paws and knights, Sylvia finally asked, "How much do you know about the art faculty?"

"The art faculty?" said Maurice with his face glue to the board, he moved the opened bishop and continued, "Not that much, I was not ever interested in it. Are you planning on receiving an education here?"

"No, I am not. Higher education is pointless in the la Avise family, because we study everything on our own."

"Ah, so you have some tutors?" suggested Eugene, to which Sylvia replied, "No, on our own."

Maurice proudly set his queen on the table, leaned backwards and said, "Well, the art faculty is actually on the second floor of the building. In the left wing. I rarely come across any art students, since there are not many of them to begin with, and they are either spending hours inside the classrooms, or are drawing outside. By the way, Eugene, one of them is quite frequently, hangs out with Jessie."

"Hopefully, there would not be any need to teach him manners." smiled Eugene, to which one of the spectators replied, "Better watch out, those van Goghs act like a beehive. Beat one up and the next day, the entire faculty is outside your window."

Maurice laughed, however, his cheeks dropped as soon as Sylvia made her move. She shook her head and said, "How often do you see alumnus visiting this place?"

Maurice groaned before eating Sylvia's bishop and answered, "I do not know! I see some middle-aged people hanging out with professors, but I have no idea who are they. Maybe friends, maybe alumnus, who knows?"

"Alright, I also noticed that some of the rooms on the first floor are under utilized, for example the one next door to you. Why?"

Maurice rubbed his chin with eyes concentrated on the board. He made his move and then raised his face, "Thats good question, this entire wing used to be art faculty's domain, but due to the lack of students, they moved to the second floor. There were rooms left and some were taken by the clubs and some locked for good. There is a classroom a few doors away from our club, that was occupied by the table tennis club, but they had to move out due to it being haunted."

"Haunted?"

"Yeah, they were talking about the rustle coming out of the wall, the utilities not being on their spots, as well as bloody fingerprints appearing here and there. That room was never used since."

"Interesting." hummed Sylvia and moved her queen forward, but then, "Checkmate! Yes!"

Maurice stood up victorious, after Sylvia moved away her queen from the defence line, the man was able to trap her king without a way to escape. Maurice hit five to Eugene and comrades inside to celebrate the victory, while Sylvia remained speechless.

She was looking at the board for a good minute, but then said, "You sure tried to win, just how pity can you be?"

Maurice turned to her with his head tilted, "What are you talking about, I won fair and square."

"Only because I was preoccupied in thoughts! Well, congratulations on winning against someone who did not even pay attention to the table."

The atmosphere in the room rose heavier. Eugene extended his hand towards Sylvia, but before he could say anything, Maurice said, "Are you serious? I also answered all your questions, what the hell are you mad about?"

"Your half-baked answers did not help a cause whatsoever. If I knew you would react with such indecency, I would prefer having a normal conversation."

Maurice's hands dropped, he strolled back to the spot with his face stone-cold. Then, he shuffled the pieces and put them on their spots, "Alright, then, we have a draw at the moment, so why don't we decide the winner right here and now? No stupid questions, nor off topics. Just you, me and the chessboard."

"Stupid questions, huh?" murmured Sylvia and made her first move. Maurice followed, and thus the final game started. They both kept silent, which made this uncomfortable for everyone present.

Eugene loosened his lips and said, "Guys, I think you should-"

"Please, be quiet for a while, Eugene. This is not about you." interrupted him Maurice, to which Sylvia opened her mouth, but quickly shut it to make her move.

Then, the unexpected happened once again, "I need to teach you a lesson, checkmate."

For a second, Sylvia's hand remained motionless in the air, but then, she slammed the table and stood up. Eugene took a peek at the chessboard, and there he saw a combination that was perfectly familiar even to him, scholar's mate. This time, the celebration did not follow.

"As expected from a narcissist bastard as yourself. You truly showed your face right there."

"Sylvia!" exclaimed Eugene, but Maurice followed, "What a hypocritical thing to say, in the end you were the first one to mock me."

"Because the likes of you deserve it, no wonder you are studying here, instead of other normal university, but keep hiding your insecurities behind your lukewarm skills in chess."

Maurice gritted his teeth and pointed at the door while shouting, "Get out of here, now!"

And so she did, leaving behind Eugene, who was in shock from their words. He expected them to smile at each other and laugh it off, like it always happened between Maurice, him and Douglas, but after Sylvia's was truly gone, the bitter taste accumulated in his throat and he exclaimed, "Idiots, you both are such idiots!"

"Eugene!" Maurice called for the man, but after mere seconds he also left the room, following his friend's will. In the corridor, he could not notice he exquisite presence, which meant that she was already on her way out of the university premise.

Eugene rushed outside and at the distance saw a gal in elegant dress that was steadily moving towards the car waiting for her. His tempo rose, as he was coming closer to the woman. The sharp chunks of gravel got stuck in his thin shoes, which made it painful to step further, however, he reached her in time. Just before she was ready to disappear in the car.

Eugene caught her hand by the unapproving glare coming from the driver's seat and called for her, "Sylvia, what the hell was that?"

"Nothing special, just two polar opposites acting accordingly to each other."

"What are you talking about?" asked Eugene. Sylvia tried to shake him off, but her effort was unsuccessful. The man continued, "I blame you as much as I blame Maurice for losing his cool. I understand, it was the sticky situation, but let's go back and apologize to him, ok? He will certainly apologize back, Maurice is not that kind of guy to hold a grudge over such a trivial matter."

"Seems like you are mistaking here, Eugene." she violently pulled her hand away from him and looked him in the eyes. Her pupils shined and brows shook a little, for the first time Eugene witnessed her like this, "Such is the result of interaction with the member of the la Avise family. All we bring to common folk is sorrow and regret, because we hate everything to be hated back by everyone. This is our nature, Eugene, and you are too kind for your own good."

Eugene took a step back, giving Sylvia an opportunity to hop into the car. Even though she was barely visible through the tinted glass, Eugene glared at her in disappointment. All the way until the car disappeared behind the buildings in the distance. The fun and carefree activity he suggested turned into a disaster because of two conflicting egos.