Ethan Grey was stunned. Like a man in love, his heart raced at the very moment his eyes fell on her, goosebumps covering his skin as his breathing immediately turned shuddery, and his palms grew clammy.
His eyes couldn't stop feasting on her exquisite beauty, how effortlessly her skin glowed in the well fitted shirt she wore, or how luminous she appeared when the wind swept over her body.
At that moment, it was as though he was no longer in a battle for the grand prize in the chess tournament. He was now in a conflict of interest— between the chess game that was his pastime, and Scarlett who had become his obsession and fixation.
"Oh hey, it's you," Scarlett's face brightened with a smile as soon as she recognized him.
She leaned back in the chair with arms folded, her eyes trailing the confused man, completely stunned that he was her final hurdle to the prize.
"Of course, it's me. What the hell are you doing here?" He asked.
His face was furrowed in puzzlement, and his voice mixed with excitement and bafflement as his once straight face brightened.
"Uhmmm... We're both in the Town Hall. I'm seated right in front of you, and there's a chessboard placed in front of us. What does that mean to you?" she scoffed, gesturing with her hands as she rolled her eyes.
They both chuckled. Ethan shook his head, as though he could snap from the utter surprise of seeing her seated in front of him.
"Gosh..." He exhaled sharply, still stunned as he folded his arms and continued, "I didn't know you actually played chess."
"Now you know..."
"My kind of girl..." Ethan whispered the words quietly to himself as he bit his lower lip, and with his gaze following the contours of her skin.
"Your eyes are on the money as well," Ethan began with a soft smile on his face, "that's actually good to know"
"Actually, I'm just here to take my trophy back home," Scarlett replied.
She watched his face switch expressions, how his eyebrows were arched and his face quitched as he tried to make meaning to her words.
"I've won the trophy for three years in a row. I'm less concerned about the prize, but more fascinated about the gold cup being in my possession. I like it better when it's seated on my wall. It adds some... colour to my other collections," she continued.
She moved her fingers expressively, speaking with an allure of pride and confidence while she rolled her eyes. Yet, three years in a row? For a moment, he was intimidated, afraid of what skills she possessed. He was rather more impressed than he was shocked.
"What if I assured you that you're not going back with it this year?" Ethan leaned forward on the table and whispered to her.
She giggled softly, and answered, "If I had a nickel..."
"Are we doing this?" The host of the game leaned in-between them, and asked as he glanced at both of them simultaneously.
The conversation was lengthy, and the people were watching impatiently, hoping for a winner. Ethan leaned to the backrest of the chair, chuckled lightly as his eyes were still fixed on her, while hers were fixed on the arranged pieces on the chess board.
The man blew the whistle, and the game began.
Both Ethan and Scarlett wore focused faces as they stared at the board. Their eyes scanned through the array of chess pieces before them. Ethan bore the white pieces— he started the game.
She moved her pawn, inching closer to his defenses. Ethan responded with a movement of his knight, hoping the piece in its familiar L-pattern. Across the board, she answered with a calm slide of her bishop, cutting diagonally across the board through his defense.
He narrowed his eyes down. A gambit? Or possibly a mistake from her end? He couldn't tell. Her precision was perfect. His brain spiralled for more ideas. Each movement across the board was tricky, beyond what the usual eyes could see.
"Eyes on the prize," cheered Michael from within the crowd, accompanied with clapping sweating hands, of which he blew on to dry as the tension within him grew tighter while he watched.
She claimed a few of his pieces, just as he claimed hers. Unlike his previous matches, this was taking longer than ever. He played with the prize stuck in his mind, but tried to avoid her gaze or even a glance of her face as he got easily distracted, and lost a chess piece every moment he did.
"It's a stalemate," the game's host shouted. The crowd murmured with squeezed faces. Ethan fell back on the chair as he exhaled sharply, while Scarlett wore a more confident look on her face as she stared at him.
"A stalemate isn't the end," the game's host said, drawing the attention of the crowd. "Armageddon rules apply— white gets five minutes, and black gets four. One final blitz to declare a winner"
"What do you say, huh?" Scarlett winked at him with a smile on her face.
Ethan looked at her, with a straight face but with a burning passion to win, and glanced at the host by the side before he nodded his head. He concurred to continue.
He had the time advantage, but she had the draw odds. She didn't need to win, a draw was just enough for her. She just needed him to make that one mistake, and all would be over for both of them.
"Check," she whispered after moving her queen to the h7 box.
He moved his king sideways, escaping narrowly. She didn't blink, or flinch. She moved her rook calmly, and watched him move his knight, exposing his king without his consciousness.
Three seconds later, she moved her queen to the g8 box.
"Checkmate," she pressed the block as she inclined to the backrest of the chair.
The silence snapped in the hall. Ethan's eyes bulged wider, his breath and heartbeat echoed in his ears as he stared at hee smiley face, and back at the board.
"No," he whispered to himself in utter shock. She had won the game, and the crowd cheered for their winner.