Naturally Vitali wasn't going to say anything to Mariya just yet about what he had continually perceived as strange behavior. He simply filed this into the back of his mind. He didn't want to think of the consequences of what he was contemplating. Should she have in the slightest been an enemy agent, and then it probably would have meant that he would have been shipped off somewhere.<br/><br/>He would have become a national hero stripped of his titles while the state-run Pravda and Isvestia newspapers told everyone that he had simply undergone some reassignment. Then he would live out what few days he had left working hard labor in a gulag before dying of exhaustion.<br/><br/>Perhaps lying to the voice in his head and saying that he hadn't suspected anything would have been a better idea just to avoid the logical consequences of what he was thinking about.<br/><br/>Anyway, though, he soon looked back toward Mariya and started to again focus on the here and now. That aforementioned present seemed to involve a chess game, which was obviously quite ironic. They had sort of seemed to be playing a mental one after all.<br/><br/>Jumping, at least mockingly so, from the pinch he then looked back at her and finally laughed at what she had done. "Alright, alright I'll make sure to play a totally fair game this time. Why don't we go to the park? There actually is a small park here, and they do have some stone chess sets outside if you were interested."<br/><br/>The idea of betting him something seemed to surprise him. At first he was just proposing a friendly game. As a result, he didn't think she would have wanted to gamble. Finally he just shrugged and let out a loose exhalation as he thought of something to say. There wasn't any reason that he had to accept a bet.<br/><br/>Then, however, he did briefly consider one thing. It could have been played off as a joke, but he hoped to get a serious answer.<br/><br/>"If I were to win, then you have to tell me the real reason that you showed up here. Does that sound fair?" Considering that he made a face after it, Mariya was likely to think that it was a joke or maybe even a romantic advance. That being said, he kind of had thought of it seriously.