Certainly it was clear that Vitali had enjoyed sitting here and playing chess as well. It was a welcome reprieve for him as well. Naturally he had little free time until now as well. Training for a space mission took a great deal out of a person. Once he was back, though, he was encouraged to relax. That was precisely how he had gotten time off like this.<br/><br/>Finding a house as quickly as they had was a surprise for Vitali as much as it probably was for Mariya. That didn't mean it was unwelcome, though. He was glad that she was able to quickly make it such a welcome home. People were going to start talking since she had an extra bed there. However, at this point that hardly seemed to matter. He didn't really worry about what other people were saying about him any more.<br/><br/>Other national heroes had their own affairs. He was going to make himself at home. In fact, he still contended that he was soon going to marry Mariya. He had no intent at all of letting another man slip in here and take him from her. Vitali knew very well that he was going to have to act fast if he still had wanted her.<br/><br/>Playing house was very nice at first. Eventually, though, it started to look like she was vanishing at strange times. What he had been concerned with before had all but disappeared. He didn't think she had some ulterior motive here. She hadn't come back from the United Kingdom with some kind of strange plans. Rather, he was afraid that there might have been another man here.<br/><br/>She was slipping out in the middle of the night. It looked really strange to him, but strange in a way she probably wasn't thinking about. He had the wrong idea about what was going on.<br/><br/>That was why when she brought things up that one afternoon while making him food, he decided to say everything that was on his mind. Vitali didn't show anguish, but rather he tried to hold in his emotions as best as he could. Still, he was very mad because he thought she had been cheating on him.<br/><br/>"What do I have on my mind? Each night you're slipping out, and yet I've made so many sacrifices for you. At least, yeah I know I don't spend every night here, but each time I do it looks like you're vanishing or running about. Please be totally level with me. You can be honest if you want to end the relationship, just tell me that there's another man who has come between us. You could have done the noble thing and told me at first to cut me off. I would have been hurt, sure, but not hurt the way that I am now."<br/><br/>At this point, Vitali had been standing up and clenching his fists at his sides. "Tell me to, is he more handsome than me? Does he have more money? Just tell me what it is about him that he can give to you but I can't."<br/><br/>To him it hadn't looked like the other individual was at all a secret agent's handler. Vitali just thought that she was having an affair. He was starting to show a vein popping out across his forehead at this point, but it was obvious that no matter what there was no way that he could have actually hurt her. Even if she had fully admitted to him that she was having an affair with another man, he would have just left and not returned. He wouldn't have done anything that could have caused her physical harm.<br/><br/>"Could you tell me his name? Why didn't you just tell me who he was in the first place? It would have saved us from having this conversation!"