Cupid's Arrow hit me hard!

Callum helped himself and served everyone refreshments.

He studied the chessboard and said, "I think this was a deliberate move by Aunt Sasha. With your current skills, you won't figure out where to place that chess piece even after another day."

Simon was terrible at chess.

His face fell. He glared at Callum.

No matter how much he sucked at chess, it was no fun to be teased by his nephew as he had some dignity to preserve.

Callum chuckled. He looked toward Sasha for help to escape Simon's deadly stares.

He was merely stating facts.

Upon receiving Callum's S.O.S., Sasha told her husband, "Keep it away. We can wrap this game up another day."

"I'd rather not play against you. Callum can do it in your stead. And Callum, stay at the manor this weekend and don't make other plans. Let's play a few games together. Otherwise, I'll nag you to kingdom come."

Callum quickly begged, "Sorry, Uncle Simon. I was wrong. You're exceptionally good at chess. You're a chess maestro, the best player in the world. Please let me off.

"I won't last three minutes against you. Where's the fun in that? It's better if Aunt Sasha is your opponent. It'll be more challenging since she's skilled at it."

If Simon wanted the York boys to play chess with him, they would deliberately lose to him and end the game within several minutes. That way, he would find it unchallenging and let them go.

Sasha said, "Callum doesn't have the time to play chess with you. Camryn's eye treatment is ongoing, and he must prepare her medicine daily. If you don't want to be up against me, Rowan can accompany you when his holidays start."

Upon the mention of his youngest son, Simon shook his head and said, "I don't want to play with Rowan. His play is very aggressive and he always wipes out my pieces. While Callum and the rest will cut me some slack, Rowan won't."

Everyone laughed.

Rowan was young and filled with vigor, not knowing how to hold back. He would go all out without hesitation and nothing, not even his dad's sullen expression, could stop him. Eventually, Simon stopped playing chess with Rowan anymore.

"So you do know Callum and the rest have been going easy on you. I'm the only one who's willing to put up with your terrible skills. No one else wants to play with you. There's no real sense of losing or the satisfaction of winning. Come on now, put everything away. Don't make a joke out of yourself in front of Callum and Camryn."

Simon unwillingly stored the chessboard away. He said, "You promised to play with me after this. Don't go back on your words. Camryn, Callum, you two bear witness."

Camryn grinned and said, "We'll stand up for you if Aunt Sasha goes back on her word."

At that moment, Sasha's cat jumped onto the sofa and went to Camryn's side. It crouched and meowed at her.

She tried patting its head because it was cute, and the cat closed its eyes. It seemed to enjoy the attention a lot.

Camryn held the cat in her arms.

She loved pets. Paige and Carrie used to have pets, but their pets were not close to her. They were ferocious. After Paige and Carrie went to jail, she put them up for adoption. Since then, there had been no other pets besides the four guard dogs in the Newmans' villa.