After the coughing attack, Svetlana remained where she was standing, her back to Anatoly and her eyes closed for a moment longer. She heard Anatoly's words and while part of her wanted to snap at him, did he really? She didn't. Because she didn't want to get into a fight. Because even if the coughing wasn't as bad, getting worked up and fighting would lead to more attacks and she rather preferred not hacking up a lung. Should Anatoly have realized what had happened? Perhaps. Svetlana hadn't been open with what had happened by that point, but she hadn't exactly hidden it. She just.. didn't bring it up and he had never asked. Then again, he never had asked how things had been for her when he was away. The girls hadn't really known what had been going on. Fayina had been four and Jelena two. All that either knew was that they had spent more time with their grandparents and that people were sad.
And Anatoly and Erik had never been close. Oh, Svetlana knew Erik had been suspicious of Anatoly. She had tried to calm his concerns. Had stood up for Anatoly to her brother when he accused her of hurting her. And by the time she and Anatoly had been married, Erik seemed to have mostly accepted Anatoly. And for four years, things had been good. So very good and Erik could see nothing was wrong. But then Molokov... Anatoly letting himself be changed and her brother was suddenly hating Anatoly again, even when Svetlana tried to say it was fine. That he was just busy. Because he knew she was trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince him.
Still, she didn't cry. Crying did no good. It wouldn't bring Erik back. It wouldn't erase the past five years. And she had cried enough in front of Anatoly. So instead, she just nodded her head slightly before she moved back to the table where the chess board was. Her movements flowed with the grace she usually held, despite the fever and sickness. Her mask was in place, it was tiring to keep it in place around Anatoly, but he gave her no other option. Five years of neglect and breaking every promise he had made to her. Not seeing she was hurting when he had always known how to read her before. Did he choose not to see? Or had he lost that ability? Could he read her now? Did she want him to be able to?
Without a word, Svetlana set up the chess board. Why? She didn't know. Maybe she was testing Anatoly. Seeing if he could read her like he had before. Oh, she knew he couldn't read her game. She had proven that nearly three weeks ago when she'd been teaching him all over again. But she wanted to know. Had to know. If he could still read her, maybe there was hope. After all, if he could still read her, didn't that mean he actually cared? Only those who didn't care didn't bother to try to know what she was feeling. Oh, she made it hard, yes. She protected herself. But if Anatoly still cared, he'd be able to read her, right? See through all of her defenses no matter how hard she tried to keep them up because he knew what everything meant. If he had stopped caring or loving her, he wouldn't be able to do that.