CHAPTER 95: CONVERSATION INSIDE THE CAR

"Man, it has been a long time since you picked me up with your car..." Sheva heaved out a sigh as he leaned his body against the soft seat comfortably. "Damn, I forgot how it feels for a moment, you know?"

"Yeah, go with the car and experience how wonderful Jakarta’s traffic is for about a week, and I am sure you will be screaming and asking me to go with the motorcycle again." Bagas sneered sarcastically. "Honestly, if not for your mom screaming in my ear to take responsibility, I would just let Sarah use this all the time, you know?"

"Oh, don’t be like that, Honey." Sarah, who sat on the seat next to the driver, smiled while tapping Bagas’s nose sweetly, making Sheva gag in the backseat. "You look cool behind the steer, you know?"

"Really?" Bagas’s smile turned into a goofy one when he heard his girlfriend’s praise.

It was a brand new day, where the seventh round of the tournament would begin. To Sheva’s surprise, instead of picking him up in front of his house, Bagas called his phone and told him to wait in front of the alley. Sheva was startled for a moment, especially since he knew Bagas’s disdain for using a car in traffic. However, after hearing his best friend’s reasoning, he couldn’t help but laugh his ass off at his friend’s misfortune.

Yeah, it seemed that because yesterday, Sheva had to go home alone pretty late, his mom panicked a little bit. Honestly, it was an unwarranted worry, since the night crime in Jakarta wasn’t that high. However, since it was his mom, Sheva just accepted the scolding silently, knowing that it was her effort to ease her mind.

However, his mom didn’t stop just like that. No, after Sheva fell asleep, she called Bagas, demanding why he didn’t bring Sheva back, especially since the boy knew for sure that Sheva was going to be late. Unfortunately for Bagas, she caught him in the worst moment, when he brought Sarah back to her home late at night.

It didn’t take Sheva’s mother quite a long time to connect the dots, as she realized that Bagas prioritized women over his best friend. Sheva didn’t know what his mom said to Bagas, but whatever that was, it was enough to make Bagas cower and avoid his mother at all costs. Well, the positive side was that Bagas decided to pick him up with a car, and the comfort offered there was way better compared to having to be exposed under the scorching sun with the motorcycle.

"Anyway, how are you two?" Sheva suddenly asked, trying to strike up a conversation. "I haven’t heard from you both in the last couple of days. Is there any problem with the live broadcast? Any negative reaction from the viewers?" His tone was full of curiosity.

"Oh, everything is great!" It was Sarah who answered the question; her voice was cheerful. "You probably have never expected this, but being the host of a chess game really helps boost my reputation! Not a single person expected that I would be able to understand a chess game, and now, I am not just a brain-dead streamer girl with a pretty look anymore!"

"Indeed." Bagas nodded. "We didn’t expect that the viewers’ reaction would be quite wholesome. Some of them even started shipping us together, saying that sometimes, we communicate like an old married couple. Bah! Not like they know that we have been a couple for a long time, of course!"

Sheva, who listened from the back, was quite surprised at the unexpected development. However, he was also happy for those two, knowing how hard it was for them to reveal themselves as a couple in public. "So, when will you make the announcement?" He asked curiously.

Both Bagas and Sarah paused for a moment, communicating with each other silently. "Well, we still want to take it easy." In the end, it was Sarah who explained. "Everything happens quite fast, and we want to take a breath first after this tournament is over. We don’t want to make a decision when we are still too happy here, not wanting to make a mistake. You understand that, right?"

Sheva just nodded silently, knowing that it was a smart decision. Even though academically, both Bagas and Sarah were far from being gifted, they were born in a pretty wealthy family, and they had already learned how to navigate public opinion since they were little. In this regard, Sheva himself didn’t have any qualification to comment, especially when what they did itself made sense to his brain.

"Just don’t wait for too long, okay?" In the end, that was the only suggestion that he could make. "The longer you both are waiting, the worse the effect would be." Bagas and Sarah stared at each other once again before giving Sheva a silent nod, telling him that they both knew about that.

They spent the next thirty minutes in silence, and Sheva himself also started opening his phone to check the current situation in the tournament. He was still at the top of the table, yet Arfan was also trailing behind with the same number of points as him. However, Sheva knew that his position was pretty shaky here, especially since he would meet Claudia in the next game.

They had been training with each other a lot of times in the past, and Sheva knew how troublesome it was to face the girl in his situation. Yeah, he himself hadn’t recovered at the fullest yet, feeling like his brain was still a mush even after almost six hours of sleeping. The game against Arfan yesterday really took a toll on him, and Sheva still didn’t know whether he could maintain his high accuracy or not.

’Should I try for a quick draw?’ He even entertained that thought. However, a moment later, Sheva shook his head quickly, throwing that idea as far away as possible. ’No, if I do that, it would be an insult toward Claudia. I cannot just give up like that.’ He clenched his fist tightly.

While he was playing with the phone, the car also moved quite slowly in the middle of the traffic. This also reminded Sheva how Bagas always hated driving his own car, feeling like his head was about to explode due to the traffic. Fortunately, today wasn’t that crowded, so they arrived at the venue quite soon. It was just forty minutes before the game began, so at least, Sheva had a little time to take a breath first.

Well... Or that was his initial idea.

Unfortunately, Sheva had to throw that as far away as possible, as the moment he entered the building, the boy was greeted by more than 20 people waiting for his arrival there.

’What the fuck...’ He whispered in disbelief. ’What the hell is going on here?!’