"He was, yes." For the most part, at least. But Svetlana had been used to Erik's eccentricities. His obsessive need to protect her from all kinds of pain, even when he over stepped his boundaries. But that was neither here nor there. And getting into that would be opening up more than she was comfortable with. Though it really shouldn't be so surprising that she had a family. Everyone did, after all. But the Soviet Union was no paradise. Not just for those it opposed and tried to conquer, but for it's own people. The fear and paranoia. Getting out was near impossible if one didn't have a travel visa. And Molokov had played that so well. She had no doubt that was part of his reasoning for not allowing her to be Anatoly's second. What would keep him there had he the chance to escape with his family? But even in the end, that didn't really seem to matter.
Still, she made no comment about Merano or Anatoly's grasp of chess. Because honestly, it would lead to an argument no doubt. Freddie's game had been thrown, yes. And she understood why. But would he truly have won? She wasn't certain. But she did know one thing. It wasn't planned. Oh sure, Molokov suggested it, but believe what Freddie might, Anatoly would never cheat. He might have been a machine fashioned by Molokov to play chess, but he also had pride for the game. He played the game for the game itself. He took responsibility for his wins and his loses. That, and while Anatoly might have been thrown at first when he realized Freddie's style, he would have overcome it, because he knew that it wasn't a sign of madness as Molokov would like him to believe.
Honestly, if Freddie had apologized to Svetlana for what had happened in Bangkok, she wouldn't know how to respond. Because she was used to being used that way. When Anatoly had first gotten involved with the world of the press, he had promised to keep his family out of it as a means to protect them from the scrutiny. To try to allow them some normalcy. Back when he had still been human. And he had always held to that promise. Didn't change the fact that they were known about, but he did try to shield them from it and always responded in such when they were brought up.
Things were different, though. And even if she was still reeling from the past month, she recognized that still. She recognized a lot of things, both from seeing the musical and just from observing. Didn't mean she had to understand or accept it. But she wasn't about to go around ruining people's lives and relationships just because she had been hurt and treated as nothing more than a problem and opponent, a pawn. It wasn't her nature and some things had to be held on when things were so distracting and upsetting. Hold on to who you truly are. Or remember who you truly are as it seemed to be with Anatoly.
Still, there was now the option of where to play their game. It was nice outside. Cold for most, but not for Svetlana. And while she did need to get the groceries back to Anatoly, they still did have enough to get through a game of chess. She hadn't wanted to stay out too long and a game of chess definitely would take time. But there were more distractions at the complex. And more chances of fights breaking out should Anatoly come down. Or the chance of Florence showing up.