You are one brave girl...

"Ouch!" After getting a completely unexpected blow from Maya, Lucas stumbled back.

"Maya…!" Not caring about the serious image that  he was just playing in front of these people, Aiden quickly came to support Maya.

She herself was shocked at her actions. Just now, when she saw Lucas raising his hand with a glass bottle, and was about to hit Aiden, she could not think of anything else but, just stopping Lucas from doing so.

Maya called out Aiden's name loudly, and as expected, everyone including Lucas looked at her. Taking advantage of that tiny second, she hit Lucas on his face! 

"Eeww!" Maya looked at her hand, it had few traces of blood on it. She shook her hand hard as if that would get rid of it.

Not thinking of any other possibility, Aiden held her hand and looked at her with concern, "Are you hurt?" As if coaxing a child, he continued, "Because of him, you got blood on your hands! I shall teach him a lesson!"

While he said this, Aiden took out a handkerchief from his pocket and gently wiped her hand, making sure not to rub too hard.

"No..." Slowly, Maya looked upwards and gave a pitiful gaze to Lucas, she had hit his nose a bit too hard.

But that didn't mean that he had not deserved this punch! He surely did! 

Aiden looked at Lucas, "....Disgusting!"

As if his gentleness vanished into thin air, he rubbed Maya's hand roughly, so as to not leave even a single mark of anything.

After he realized that it was a bit too rough and Maya's hand was turning red, Aiden simply threw that handkerchief to the hotel manager standing there, "Throw away this piece of cloth! I don't think that I can even give it for the cloth- donations."

Then he looked at Maya who was staring at her red hand, "Let's go to the washroom. Since we can't get you another hand, we need to make sure that it's clean of any infections."

"....?" Maya wondered just what was going on in this mind of his. But still, she let him take her to the washroom, she needed to wash her hands anyways. 

Rest of the people in the room: "!!?"

Ashely who had been behind Maya: "!!!" "So this is the guy who turned the tables!"

…

Ryan had hugged Alyssa when he saw her crouching on the floor outside the restroom.

He wanted to say certain things to her but realized that she was shivering too much. He tried to comfort her but only met with rejection. Disappointed a bit, he reluctantly left her, "What's wrong Alyssa?" 

Suddenly they heard a few footsteps. Maya and Aiden were walking towards them, while Ashely came running being them. 

Alyssa looked upwards and saw Maya. She didn't know why, but her body acted upon its own, she stood up and rushed into Maya's embrace.

As she felt Maya also hugging her tightly in response, Alyssa who had not cried a single tear all this time broke into tears. "Sister Maya…" 

Maya was stunned at this response from her, they had only met once, that too was a few weeks ago. But right now, it felt as if she had known this lady in her arms very well; as if she were her sister.

She kind of understood her thoughts, and remembering the scene before, Maya could tell that this man in front of her had a special relationship with Alyssa, but she did not want to cry in front of him.

Maya looked at Aiden, and he nodded, and after that, she entered the women's restroom with Alyssa. She made her sit down on the bench there and comforted her. "This must be shocking for you right? I'm sorry I did not pay much attention to your safety. I had not expected that this negligence would lead to this." 

"Maya… Ab-about Ryan…. Will he-? Now that-" Alyssa kept on crying, she didn't want any man to touch her, and that's why when Ryan hugged her, she avoided him. What if he misunderstood today's situation? What if he did not want to be with her anymore? 

"He would definitely not do that!" Maya reassured her, it was only for a few seconds, but when she had seen Ryan, he genuinely looked as if he cared about her, he would not leave Alyssa in such a desperate situation.

"You did not let anything happen to yourself! You should be proud of yourself, you are one brave girl!" Maya rubbed her head, "Come on, let's wash up. Okay?"

She had thought that she would bring Alyssa to some room in the hotel but before that, Alyssa rushed inside one of the cubicles which had shower in it. She didn't want the stinking smell of that man and alcohol on herself anymore.

Maya sighed, she stood up and washed her hands thoroughly. By the time she came out, a small crowd of three people and two suitcases was waiting out for her.

Aiden and Ashely were just standing there because they knew that Ryan was in a more restless position at the moment, "Where is she!? Is she alright?" 

Maya looked at him carefully, indeed, he looked that he would not harm Alyssa, she shook her head, "Alyssa is washing up inside, she will be fine. Don't make her feel insecure."

Then she looked at Ashley, "You've brought our stuff, right? Take out a good, warm pair of clothes from my bag and please give it to her." After thinking something, Maya continued, "Make sure the clothes cover her entire body."

She didn't explain herself further and started walking towards the VIP room, she wanted to check out what happened here today.

All of a sudden, Aiden caught her hand and stopped her, "I have taken care of it. You should rest, we can talk about it tomorrow." 

Although Maya was in a rush, she knew that she could trust Aiden. And so, she nodded, "Okay." 

Lucas was hiding only some distance away from them. He knew that Maya would come to his way, and then he could have a chance to talk to her. But before she could come, Aiden stopped her.

He felt a cold chill run down by his spine. It seemed that Aiden was looking at his way.

Maya was standing with her back facing him. She had turned her back on him because of this guy… again? 

Today Lucas had come to this party because he missed Maya… a lot.

He couldn't touch Elise since she was pregnant and thought that he could distract himself with some good woman, but none of them could compare to Maya, and his mood turned sour.

Finally, she was here but he couldn't even touch a strand of her hair.

It was all because of this Aiden! Anger surged through him and Lucas angrily rushed towards Maya and Aiden. "This time I will not miss to kill Aiden!"

Ignoring Maya who was in front of Aiden, Lucas swung the glass bottle towards him. 

Aiden had not expected him to be so fast, with shocked eyes he covered Maya with his body.  "Be careful Maya!"

*Crash!!* The glass bottle shattered.