Something told Vitali that he wasn't the only person around who received that smile Surely there were plenty of others that she had bothered on purpose. Smirking a bit, he offered her another sign from her childhood, which was a sign that he had realized that she was making fun of him on purpose. Exhaling a bit, he eventually started to stretch his back, perhaps imagining at least some of the same things that she had.<br/><br/>Looking toward her, Vitali eventually exhaled and laughed while he placed his hands back into his pockets. "I guess that I should consider myself stuck with that name for now then, but do you actually like calling me that, or do you just find it funny?"<br/><br/>For the moment it looked like he had wanted to look away as well. To some degree this line of conversation was of course rather embarrassing. Still he looked toward her and gave it some thought. That was until his latest request had seemingly caused a bit of a stir. "What do you mean you haven't played in years?" It was nice to focus on this new question and the new line of conversation that came along with it.<br/><br/>Honestly he was surprised to hear that she hadn't been playing chess. It was something that a vast majority of people he knew had taken up. Still, he did his best not to look too shocked, and instead he put the focus back on the conversation that they were having.<br/><br/>Talking always seemed to make things better, especially if it gave him an opportunity to skirt the issue for a bit. Nevertheless, this conversation had turned to chess. In a way, they were playing a chess game against one another already. Each portion of what they were saying had been an attempt to outmaneuver the other, but Vitali was still pretty much in the dark when it came to figuring this out.<br/><br/>Maybe he just didn't really want to believe that anything was up at the moment. "Hey, wait a minute, how could you cheat at chess anyway?" He laughed, wondering if that meant that she had actually cheated him before when they were younger.<br/><br/>Now if she had tried to cheat him today, then, that would have really made things just like old times all over again for sure.