A Second Delilah

One hour passed.

Maya had never waited so long for anyone; not even her stuck-up clients at the advertising firm had ever been this late...

By this point, it was safe to assume that the man wasn't coming. But she still couldn't help but feel worried about him. Sending Delilah a message, she wrote, "Dels, can you check if Lucas is OK? He never came to pick me up. I'm worried he might have gotten into an accident."

Over at the hospital, Delilah saw the message and furrowed her brows. Why hadn't he shown up? She scrolled back to the message that she received earlier and read it again, "I had a great day with you. It will be fun to see you again tonight. Don't forget to buy a mask for the masquerade ball." When she saw this message earlier, it excited her so much that she immediately called Tiffany and told her to help Maya look as stunning as possible. The fish had taken the bait and now she just had to reel him in.

So she didn't understand why the man didn't show up.

Following her sister's instructions, she sent Lucas a message and waited for a response.

Meanwhile...

Parked on the opposite side of the road to Maya's hotel, a man peered out of a black Mercedes into the hotel lobby. His phone beeped and he picked it up. It was a message from Delilah Yeung: "Lucas, are you OK? Did you get into an accident? I'm worried about you."

He glanced into the hotel lobby and saw the woman pacing back and forth with her phone in her hands.

Lucas had actually arrived 10 minutes early. After hearing what Ryan had discovered, he was overcome with mixed feelings. He was upset that the woman had lied to him, yet he was glad that he hadn't actually kissed the narcissistic Delilah Yeung; he was annoyed that the woman probably had no genuine feelings for him, yet he was worried that Nova Thomas may be after her. So he sat from afar and hesitated...

He didn't actually understand why he was even hesitating with this woman. If this was in the past, he would have walked right into that hotel lobby, confronted her, and sent her packing. How dare she lie to him!

But when he saw the pure nervousness in her eyes, her shy reactions as people glanced at her, and the slight trace of excitement and anticipation in her actions, he found himself just sitting there and watching. Was this all a part of her act? How long would she be able to keep it going?

To his surprise, an entire hour passed and the woman was still standing in the lobby. Not only that, he even received a message from her and realized she was actually worried about him. She wasn't angry that he was late or that she had possibly been stood up; she was worried that something had happened to him.

Lucas felt his heart break a little.

Furrowing his brows in frustration, he stepped on his accelerator, turned his steering wheel, and drove into the driveway of the hotel. He then stepped out of the driver's seat and stormed into the lobby.

When the woman finally saw him, her eyes lit up. This look made his heart flutter but he frowned and tried to keep his feelings suppressed. "Why are you still waiting here?" he asked straightforwardly.

However, the woman completely ignored his question, ran up to him, grabbed his arms worriedly, and looked around. "Are you OK? Did something happen on the way here? Are you hurt?"

This was the same reaction she had earlier at the canyon. She appeared genuinely concerned about him then, and she appeared genuinely concerned about him now. Was she just a good actress?

"Why are you so worried about me?" he asked.

Maya lifted her head and stared at him through her delicate silver mask. The mask framed her eyes perfectly, highlighting her soft gentle gaze. "You're an hour late. Why else would you be this late? Something must have happened. If you didn't come in another 10 minutes, I was going to call the police."

Wasn't an hour enough? Was she planning to wait another 10 minutes? Lucas couldn't help but let out a laugh. This woman...he didn't know what to do about her.

[Forget it, since you're genuinely concerned about me, I'll let you see L7's artwork before I expose you and send you packing.]

With this thought, he turned around and started leading the way to his car. "Come on, let's get going. We're already late. If we don't hurry, L7's artwork might be sold before you even get a chance to look at it," he teased.

Hearing this, Maya quickly followed behind the man and no longer questioned him. He appeared fine, that was all that mattered...

...

During the hour that Maya had been waiting, Sam was over at the club drowning his frustrations with alcohol.

By now, he had already had 5 drinks and was feeling a little light-headed. Dr. Brown was a bit tipsy too.

Leaning forward and chuckling, Mason Brown tapped the man lightly on the nose and said flirtatiously, "Did anyone ever tell you how pretty you look?"

Sam furrowed his brows, "Yes...Delilah does all the time..." He hated it when she called him pretty. It just highlighted the fact that she didn't view him as a man.

All of a sudden, Mason stretched out his hand and ran his finger across Sam's cheek. "Your skin is so smooth, your eyelashes are so long, and your lips...they look so soft." This man had the exact look that he liked.

Sam blinked blankly. He was too dizzy to notice that the man was completely infatuated with him. Before he knew it, Mason stared at his lips and began to lean forward.

That was when Sam finally realized what was happening and his eyes widened in a panic.

Just as he was trying to decide what to do, a voice cut in, "Ahem, am I interrupting something?"

Sam turned his head in surprise and his eyes fell upon a sweet smile. A smile that he had seen earlier that day.

Unlike earlier, the woman's hair had been freed from its bun and now draped loosely against her back. Her slender body clung to a tight black dress that sat above her knees, highlighting her long legs.

"Sumi?" Sam asked in surprise and slight relief.

Sumi giggled, "I see the party started without me."

Realizing what she was hinting at, Sam quickly backed away from Mason. But just as he was about to explain that she wasn't interrupting anything and there was nothing going on between him and the young doctor, the woman squeezed her slim figure between their two barstools, leaned over the counter, and ordered herself a drink. Her every move was casual, but she didn't realize how feminine and seductive she looked. Sam found himself subconsciously glancing at her perky bum as she leaned against the counter.

Her body wasn't as good as Delilah's, but she still had some nice curves.

Then, to his surprise, before he snapped out his daze...she turned that bum of hers...and planted it right onto his lap. Taking a sip of her drink, she asked, "You don't mind if I sit here, right, babe?"

Sam stared at the woman. He couldn't believe that she was this close to him. Completely dumbfounded, he found himself shaking his head. "Not at all, babe," he replied in his most feminine manner.

But for some reason, this scene gave him a sense of Deja Vu. Ten years ago, when Delilah kissed him, he had reacted in a similar way. Rather than clarifying everything straight away, he chose to play along...and that did not end well.

Was Sumi about to become a second Delilah?

At that moment, Tiffany returned to the group and saw the interaction between Sumi and Sam. Furrowing her brows, she found herself looking at the man in confusion. [Didn't he tell me not to call him babe?]