"Yeah, I am okay!" Sheva talked on the phone with an exasperated tone, clearly too tired to continue the conversation. "Anna, how many times do I have to tell you that I am not sad, I am not depressed, and I am not in a daze?! I appreciate your concern, but I had already expected to lose at least once in this tournament. It is a miracle that I could still hold on until the fifth round, to be honest. So, yeah, don't worry about me!"

Yeah, the one he talked with from the call was Anna, Claudia's big sister. Somehow, she was concerned about his defeat, as this would be the first time Sheva suffered a defeat in a formal competition. Well, she definitely overreacted here, worrying even more than Sheva himself.

"You don't need to be embarrassed, you know?" Her crisp, melodious voice was laced with a concerned tone, making Sheva sigh in exasperation once again. "It is better to talk about it rather than bottling it up. Don't worry, I will not mention this to anyone else. Or do you want Claudia or Sister Irene to be there? I could call them, you know? Don't worry about your masculine pride, I am sure no one will be bothered too much about it."

This time, Sheva decided to just give a nod silently, letting the girl on the other side of the world to nag him relentlessly like that. He didn't even mention that Claudia and Irene were living in the next room; it would have been definitely easier for him to ask rather than having Anna call them first.

Honestly, the call from Anna really caught him off guard. After all, Sheva himself had to admit that he was closer to Claudia, the little sister, than to her. Hell, they hadn't even had a time to chat since Sheva went to Reykjavik, so this call was really a big surprise.

They also didn't just chat about the last game. No, it seemed that since he went to Reykjavik, Anna somehow became a regular guest for his mother, helping her make snacks and bake pastries, or even just becoming his mother's friend to chat. It would be a lie if Sheva said that he didn't appreciate it. However, it seemed that his mother exaggerated something here, probably telling that he was quite fragile in accepting the defeat, and probably also asking Anna to take care of him. That was why, even though he had already said that he was okay, Anna still kept pestering him nonstop.

"Anyway, how is your preparation for the Southeast Asian Games?" Sheva suddenly asked, changing the conversation topic. "It should've been six weeks later, right?"

"Oh, yeah! It has been great!" Anna exclaimed enthusiastically. "Even though Sister Irene is cheating by going with you guys, Sister Medina and Laysa are more than enough to help me improve myself! Master Sergei is still also keeping in touch with me, and we also have our own coach in the women's national team! Sister Irene helps us search for one, and in the end, we are under the guidance of Grandmaster Ray Robson. You know about him, right?"

"Is he the perennial super grandmaster from America whose rating was always on the high end of 2600?" Sheva was taken aback, clearly noticing the name. "How in the hell did Sister Irene know him like that?!"

"Yup! He is that grandmaster as you talked about." Anna confirmed with a delighted tone, happy that Sheva recognized how awesome her new coach was. "As for how Sister Irene gets him, I don't know the details, but it seems that they both studied at Webster University in the past. Maybe that is where they knew each other."

Sheva couldn't help but nod unconsciously, finding the answer reasonable. Still, it was incredible that the women's team would be coached by such a high-ranked player, and somehow, Sheva couldn't wait to see the improvement in Anna's game.

After that, they chatted for a while, but not even for once did they mention Sheva's defeat against Gukesh again. At this point, Anna was considerate enough to know that shifting Sheva's focus from his defeat would be better compared to her insisting on his opening up like before. Even though Sheva didn't know why she suddenly became reasonable like this, the boy still appreciated her for not pestering him again, wanting to forget the bad memory of his last game as quickly as possible.

"Anyway, I have to go first, sorry." Anna suddenly apologized, cutting the call short. "It is time for us to train, and if I don't go right now, I will be late." She said.

Sheva checked the time on his clock already, and while it showed 16:30, since the time difference between the two countries was about seven hours, it should be around 9:30 in the morning in Jakarta right now.

"Eh, don't worry, just go and train peacefully." The boy said, trying to reassure her. "Don't think too much about what happened here. I will keep my eyes on Ia, and I am not that fragile to break after just one loss. I am alright, tell that to my mom, okay?"

"… Thanks for keeping eyes on Ia. Just don't be too stressed, okay? You have done well, and I have no doubt that you will crush the rest of the tournament."

Right after that, Anna ended the call, leaving Sheva staring at the screen of his phone silently. It would be a lie if he said he wasn't touched by the sentiment here, as indeed, he was bothered by the defeat earlier.

No matter how much he wanted to cover it up, this was the first defeat he had ever faced in an official tournament, and it stung since even Claudia and Irene were able to get a good result in this round. He completely ignored the fact that this was the exact opposite of the second round, where he managed to force a draw against Mads Andersen, while the other two failed to do that.

The boy walked silently, enjoying the cold weather of Reykjavik alone. He was still contemplating the defeat, and while he was still quite bitter, the boy knew that what his brain told him was correct.

'Yeah, I have already expected this defeat. No need to dwell too long about it.' He repeated those words like a mantra inside his head. Still, the bitter taste of defeat lingered inside his heart, and looking back at the venue, the boy couldn't help but clench his fist tightly. 'Gukesh Dommaraju, huh? Just wait, the next time we meet, the final result will be different.'

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