When the sixth round had finished with Byron's defeat, the old man looked at the young man in front of him with approval. The elder wasn't angry, rather, he had been forced to accept his complete defeat. "What rank were you in the past?"
Sato realised that Byron did not want to play anymore for now. Thinking back to the past, he answered, "I used to play online blitz a lot and back then, my highest rating was around 3000?"
"3000?!" Byron had played blitz before, but the result was basically the same as regular chess. This meant that his opponent for the past six games was around 700 points above him. Such a large point gap had truly shocked the old man. Even Sarah was laughing at the sight of his stunned husband.
"Yes," Sato smiled awkwardly. It was Gray's idea to not tell Byron that he was a pretty good chess player. In the past, before ROL came out, chess was his primary game for escape. It was a simple strategy game that did not require high graphics and was playable through his shitty computer. When Sato met Gray in the past, the General had witnessed Sato's prowess every time they had played chess together. Gray's chess gameplay could be said to be just below Byron's. Yet against his boyfriend, he was essentially being toyed around.
"Have you tried playing online chess recently?" Byron asked curiously.
"No. This was the first time I had played in two years." Sato answered honestly. Such an answer was scary in Byron's eyes as the old man had never really stopped playing chess ever since his younger days. This meant that his skills hadn't been forgotten. Still, Gray's boyfriend was still able to win him without practice.
"You should try playing online chess now then. There are.."
"Okay, Mr Tobion. Enough talks about chess. Dinner is ready. You can talk more about it after you eat." Sarah interrupted Byron in the midst of his conversation. She urged the trio to head over to the dining table to eat. "The whole family should be coming over for dinner soon."
"The whole family?" Gray and Sato was confused.
"Yes. Your parents and your uncle's family should be here anytime now." Gray's grandmother broke the news to the couple. This had made Sato rather nervous almost instantly. Much less talking to Gray's father, he had never met before Gray's uncle and his family.
Byron noticed Sato's complicated expression. Before Gray could try to pacify the situation, the old patriarch intervene and helped out. "Come sit beside me, little Sato. I still have a lot to ask you about chess. Hehe."
"Okay." Sato accepted his invitation and so the young man sat in the seat right beside the end of the long dining table. Gray sat beside his boyfriend and patted Sato's thigh reassuringly. He did not want Sato to panic during such a spontaneous occasion.
Within five minutes of sitting down, the entire Tobion family had arrived. The people that Sato knew Melanie and Alex, who were Gray's parents had entered the dining hall first. Following which was Alex's younger brother, Michael Tobion and his family. His wife, Hailey Thompson had three children, Gabriel, James and Mia. The three children were 21, 16 and 11 respectively. That day, Gray's brother, Noah Tobion was on an overseas trip and could not make it.
Gray did his best to explain to Sato about his family. He himself was not prepared for this and could only let Sato greet them individually as Gray introduced to them his boyfriend. By now, word had already spread to everyone in the Tobion family loop that Gray was gay. There were obviously some disagreements like Gray's father, but on Michael Tobion's side of the family, they did not particularly care about Gray's homosexuality.
"Well, my family is happy to finally meet you, Sato." With a welcoming tone, Michael spoke on behalf of his family. His three children sat at the table, well-behaved. The oldest son, Gabriel had gotten a closer look at Sato who was the same age as him. He smiled warmly as he could tell that Sato was nervous to be around so many people.
"It is nice to meet you and your family, uncle." Sato greeted back as he should.
"How are you, Sato? Are you feeling better now?" Melanie asked with a concerned look.
"I am able to speak better now. Walking long distances is still tiring though." Sato came clean about his condition. It was certain that everyone around the dining table had heard about his kidnapping.
"That is good then. Later come over to our home. Auntie brewed some herbal medicine that will help to boost your muscle weakness."
"Thank you, auntie."
"Okay, let us begin eating. I am sure everyone has better things to do than sit around the dining table." Byron stopped everyone's pleasantries. The family began their dinner meal together.
Throughout the meal, Byron was conversing with Sato about chess knowledge. Very rarely at home would the old man have someone to talk to about his hobby. This was right up Sato's alleyway as he was still feeling nervous about having so many people over at the Tobion house. In the end, the other family members started talking amongst themselves and did not have the chance to ask much about Sato.
By the end of the meal, everyone said their goodbyes while Sato was asked by Byron to stay behind to play some chess. The young man obliged since he actually enjoyed interacting with Gray's grandfather. Gray, on the other hand, was happy to see that his grandparents were happy to interact with his boyfriend. His head was moody whenever he thought back to his father who quietly ate his meal on the other side of the table.