Mafia King’s Innocent Bride

Sophie’s POV

“Oh, you’re not with Sabrina?” asked Mr. Jacobs when he saw me outside the infirmary.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

I nodded. “She said she still have something important to do.”

“Hmm, I see.”

“So, where shall we play?” he suddenly asked me as he put his blue denim jacket on.

“Hmm, I-I don’t know.”

He thought for a while then he looked at me again with a smile on his face. “I know a place. Let’s go?”

“H-Huh? O-Okay.”

We started walking and I could see Venom following us. I just texted Vincent and told him that I’ll be late tonight and good thing he agreed. He said that we won’t be able to play chess tonight too since he has a lot of work to do tonight. I think I’m somehow lucky because he’s not that strict to me. Though he’s a real pervert.

I don’t actually feel comfortable now that I’m with Mr. Jacobs after what he told me the other day. I know I don’t have the right to feel this way but what he said really made me sad and somehow upset. I couldn’t even make an eye-to-eye contact with him.

“There we go.” He said and that’s when I raised my head up. “It’s a coffee shop where people can play chess while eating. I just discovered it the other day although I haven’t tried going here yet until yet.”

“Y-You haven’t gone here yet?”

He nodded. “I don’t have someone to play chess with though.”

“O-Oh…”

So, I’m the first person that he brought here.

“What would you like to order, Sophie?” Mr. Jacobs asked me.

“I-I’ll just have what you order too…”

He smiled. “Okay, then we would like to have two Pecan pie and two super Tuscan espresso.”

“Two Pecan pie and Super Tuscan espresso, anything more, Sir?”

“That’s all.”

The waitress finally left and so Mr. Jacobs took out the chessboard inside the drawer of our table. The interior of the shop was completely chess-like. All the chairs look like pieces of chess and the floor was tiled with black and white. “This coffee shop looks really amazing, isn’t it?” Mr. Jacobs spoke again.

“Y-Yeah.”

“I think the owner really loves playing chess and cooking at the same time. He thought of something that he could make while playing chess, and voila, he came up with a coffee shop with a chess theme. Brilliant.”

“R-Right…”

Ah, I really feel nervous. I’m more nervous being with Mr. Jacobs than when I’m with Vincent. I feel nervous with Mr. Jacobs while I feel scared whenever I’m with Vincent.

“Shall we play chess now?”

“Okay.”

He put the chessboard on the table and we started putting our pieces on it. He asked me to turn first. “You should move the pawn in front of either the king or queen two squares forward. This opens pathways for your bishops and queen to enter the game. They move on an angle and can’t get out onto the field of battle if pawns are the way.”

“I understand…”

“Before you move your queen, rooks, or king, move your knights and bishops toward the center of the board. You want to get these pieces out from behind the pawns so they can attack.” He was explaining it all to me with a real serious face and I couldn’t help but stare.

I’ve never been so close to him like this before.

“And when it’s your turn, always think to yourself, ‘What did my opponent’s last move do? What is he up to?’ is he laying traps to capture your pieces? Then decide on your own plan. Always look at all your possibilities. Look at moves that would capture your opponent’s men or threaten his king first.”

I just kept on nodding like a fool. I didn’t understand anything that he said because I was more focused on his face. I just came back to my senses when he suddenly looked at me. “Did you understand?”

“H-Huh?”

“Did you understand it now?” he repeated in a calm tone.

What am I even doing? I should be focusing on how to learn some tactics to win against Vincent, not on how handsome Mr. Jacobs is. “I-I’m sorry, but can you explain it to me again?”

Mr. Jacobs laughed. “Sure, sure. You don’t have to rush yourself anyway. You just need to feel relaxed and comfortable while playing it and make sure that the opponent won’t feel that you’re nervous. You need to think very carefully and think how your opponent would probably respond to it.”

“I understand.”

He just taught me about the different tactics in playing chess and this time, I listened to him very carefully. I want to win against Vincent, I don’t want him to conquer me fully. After all, the person who only owns my heart is here in front of me.

He is the only man that I want to be with. I don’t care if he already has someone that he loves. I’m not planning to take him away from that woman anyway. I just want to love him, I want to love Mr. Jacobs, even if he doesn’t know I do.