<div style="text-align: justify;">Despite all of her plans and schemes, Mariya had to admit that simply sitting and playing chess with Vitali was a very relaxing moment. It served for her to see how much she missed her old friend, and those moments spent playing chess - moments that she didn’t often have back in England, as she didn’t have all that much free time there. Back in Soviet Union, for now, she did have some free time, and every intention to use it bonding again with Vitali. It was for the best, after all, since she had come back solely because of him.<br/><br/>After those moments playing chess, Mariya had continued to see Vitali whenever he had the time for her. With his help, she found herself a small house, and started taking care of making it a home - for herself, and for him, as well. The place was small,  but with Vitali’s help, Mariya managed to make it quite home like. There was a kitchen, where Mariya spent her time cooking for Vitali and talking to him as she did so, a small sitting room, where they ate and talked for as long as their hearts desired, and she had decided that she might as well have an extra bed in her bedroom, in case he wanted to spent his nights there every now and then.<br/><br/>It took them a while, but they had soon fallen into a pleasant routine of eating together, playing chess, and spending as much time as possible simply enjoying each other’s company. And, of course, Mariya was getting as much information as she possibly could without alerting Vitali about her plans. And, as soon as she got anything relevant, Mariya would obviously meet with her handler and let him know everything she had gotten right away. It was the reason why she was doing it all, right?<br/><br/>It was inevitable to feel a little unsettled, though. There was that constant lingering fear that Vitali would eventually figure out what she was doing. Every time she left the house to meet with her handler, Mariya felt a cold hand grasp her heart. What if he found out? What would he do? What would happen to her if someone else found out? All these questions kept constantly playing in her mind, especially at nights, when she had some alone time to think.<br/><br/>Her mind gave her lots of questions, and no answers, and that was nearly making Mariya insane. It got even worse once she noticed that Vitali seemed different. Her heart sank when she considered that he might be onto what she was doing. Each day they spent together made her more and more certain that he knew. And each day she told herself that she would confront him, and ask him what was going on. And each day she lost courage the moment she opened her mouth to ask a question. After some time, though, Mariya decided that she needed to gather all her courage and speak. She had to be able to dispel his suspicions, after all, before they took hold. <br/><br/>So, one quiet afternoon, as she cooked for him, Mariya finally decided to speak up. “Viti”, she called his name quietly, waiting for her old friend to look at her or give any other signs of paying attention to her words. Taking a deep breath, and keeping her eyes on her work, she asked the question that had been tickling her tongue for a few days. “What is in your mind? I… when you look at me the way you are doing now, I feel that there is something that you want to ask me and don’t have the courage to”.<br/><br/>It was done. Now, all she had to hope was that she was only being paranoid and that he wasn’t onto her mission.</div>