How many moves does it take to checkmate? Three, ten, fifteen? Maybe. But what happens when you don’t even know you are playing chess anymore? You have attempted checkmate on me so many times that I lost count of the moves and the chess games played. I tried so so hard not to play chess with you. Tried to move on and let it go but you were still there with the chess board attempting to checkmate me. With all the key pieces and the centre stage, you always assumed you would checkmate me. You hounded me across the board relentlessly. For years. I always had to watch my back. Always watching the board. Always anxious. Always worried.

Then, eventually, you forgot that we were playing chess. You took your eye off the ball. You looked around for a second and I seized my chance. I took your queen and checkmated you in one move.

It took me years of chess but I finally checkmated you. I did something you never could.

Checkmate.