Chapter Text
never let them know their eyes affect you
Svetlana Sergievskaya's flight lands in Bangkok's Don Mueang International Airport on a sunny afternoon. A junior KGB officer, one of the staff from the delegation, is there to escort her. He carries her luggage and leads her to the waiting limousine, which whisks them to the Russian delegation's hotel. All the way there, she can feel his eyes, like everyone else's, staring at her.
They soon arrive, and she is left to settle herself in her room, finally free of public scrutiny. Although she has always been a public figure to some extent, the strain of remaining calm and dignified in public this past year has taken its toll on her.
Too soon, her solitude is interrupted by a quiet knock on the door. The butler enters, carrying a folded note on a silver tray. She takes it, reads the inevitable summons: Molokov wants to see her. Resignedly, she draws what remains of her dignity and pride around her into a protective shell, her only shield against rumor, gossip, and scandal.
Svetlana Sergievskaya leaves her hotel room to play the role of abandoned wife once more, for the benefit of those watching the game, and her fellow players in it.
never let it show; they won't suspect you