A/N: So it's been a bit more than 3 months since I last updated. Before you murder you, I just want to say I have an excuse for about 2 months of those. First, I was in Europe, (England specifically) for like 7 weeks for a study abroad program, so I couldn't really write. Instead of staying in my room writing, I was usually out of my room chilling. I mean, how often am I going to be in Europe w/ a bunch of friends right? After that I came back to school and what's w/ moving in and stuff it's hard getting things done. I swear, it's only the 2nd week of school, and like I have exams next week. What's up with that? Well, I am back, mostly, but as I am applying for internships this and next month, I can't promise the next chapter in 2 weeks, but definitely less than 3 months. Like I said at the beginning of this story, I do plan on finishing it.

So enough of my rambling. On to the story!

Chapter Seventeen

The next morning, Zaid picked up Delia and they went to the site together. Neither of them spoke about what happened yesterday. Frankly, Delia was determined to ignore him. She was still mad at him, but a larger part of her worried more about what Seto would do if he ever found out, which he wouldn't if she could help it.

There was a meeting at the trailer once they arrived. Marik and Ishizu were already there, along with Zack and another archeologist on their team named Damien.

"Are we going in the temple today?" Delia asked to no one in particular a few minutes later after listening to their discussions.

"Yes, but we're taking more precautions since we don't know the exact architecture of the place." Ishizu raked an angry gaze over Marik and Zack and Zaid.

"But we do know some of it." Zack, in protest, pointed to an ancient scroll spread out on the table.

Standing in a circle, they all scrutinized the scroll for a few minutes before Ishizu spoke, "It looks like a map of sorts. Maybe the left side of the temple."

"It doesn't look like anything to me," Delia mumbled. The writings on the scroll were so faded that she could barely connect the lines of the map together, if it even was a map.

"You wouldn't know how to read a map if your life depended on it," Zaid grumbled as he leaned down to take a closer look at the map.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Delia glared at him. Even though he'd confessed to her and even kissed her, he was still the same arrogant man at work. Doubtlessly he was one of those who had no problems separating his professional and personal lives.

Zaid ignored her and said, "It doesn't really look like the left side?"

"And I suppose you know what the left side looks like?" Delia bit out sarcastically.

Zaid shot her a scathing look that could melt steel. "You don't know anything, so keep out of it."

Before Delia could get back at him, someone knocked. A young guy who was an intern from a college nearby stepped inside. "Sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Atkins is here with his sister."

Sister? Delia somehow knew it was Anthony, but he has a sister? From where? She'd thought the Atkins couldn't have children, which was why they'd adopted Tony as their son.

The only reaction Delia noticed was Zaid's grimace before another girl rushed inside. She looked maybe a year or two younger, with dark auburn hair that was cut short into a bob and framed her angelic face. Her eyes, a chocolate brown, looked way too big for her face. Delia doubted anyone could refuse this girl anything once she turned those doe eyes on that person.

Currently those eyes were focused on Zaid with their full force.

Out of the corner of her eye, Delia caught Zaid flinch and couldn't help but be amused.

"Zaid!" The girl literally screamed his name in the small confines of the trailer and jumped him. Zaid's eyes were literally full of panic as he was forced back a few steps with the girl's legs wrapped around his waist and her arms clinging to his shoulders even as she gave him a smacking kiss.

Looks like someone has an unrequited love.

Delia almost felt sorry for the girl. Anyone who liked Zaid must be pretty dumb, to her thinking. There was nothing attractive about Zaid, except maybe for his good looks that could melt a woman at thirty feet. But once that woman got to know the person behind those looks, she couldn't run fast to get away from the jerk.

"Brie! Get off him this second!" Anthony stepped inside and scolded his younger sister. His presence filled the room even though he only stood at the door. Delia hadn't realized that he was so tall or so intimidating since he had been so easy-going at the party days before.

Brie reluctantly jumped off Zaid and retreated to her brother's side with a pout. This time, she had the good graces to scan around the room. When her eyes landed on Delia, they shot wide open. "Whoa! Tony! She looks exactly like you!"

Thanks for pointing out the obvious.

Delia restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Now she had no doubt that the girl must be missing part of her brains, otherwise why would she be all over Zaid and then make that comment?

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt," Tony said and frowned at his sister. "I just had some free time today, so I thought I might drop by and see how the project is progressing."

"We were doing just fine until you came along." Zaid's irritation clearly meant that he couldn't wait for them to leave.

Or more importantly, for Brie to leave.

Delia, on the other hand, was just beginning to enjoy herself. So she plastered on a welcoming smile and placed herself between Brie and Zaid. "You must excuse him. He's had a hard day."

She could feel Zaid's glower burning holes into her back, and it took every ounce of her control not to laugh.

"Who are you?" Brie asked bluntly, her large eyes suspicious.

"Oh, I'm—"

Before Delia could get the words out, Zaid's arm snaked around her waist and pulled her back against him.

"Let me introduce you. Brie, this is my girlfriend, Delia."

"What?" Delia and Brie shouted the words in unison.

Everyone else in the room looked equally as shocked, if not as vocal about it. The only exception was Marik, whose amused expression made Delia want to punch him.

Well, after she beat Zaid into a bloody pulp.

How dare he!

"Just play along," Zaid whispered. After a short pause, he added, "please?"

If he hadn't said please, she wouldn't even consider helping but. Yet, it was apparent that the man wanted nothing to do with Brie despite how much the girl liked him. The misery in his voice was unmistakable, and Delia felt herself giving in to his request.

"When did you get a girlfriend?" Brie looked like she'd grab the nearest hovel and smack Delia over the head with it. Luckily, the nearest item that even resembled a murder weapon was near the door, and Brie would have to go through her brother to get it. Delia prayed to God that Anthony wouldn't share his sister's feelings. Luckily, she only saw concern in Anthony's eyes, not murderous rage.

"How could you?" Brie continued, this time tears appeared in her eyes even as her voice became louder. "You know how I feel about you!" With that, the girl stormed out of the room with all the histrionics worthy of a drama queen.

"Sorry about that," Tony apologized, looking bashful. He didn't chase after his sister, not because he didn't worry about her, but because he understood Brie. Delia understood equally as well, considering she was just like Brie. When things didn't go her way, she tended to throw a raging fit and would only wish to be alone afterwards. Nothing would help other than just let the rage pass.

It kind of unsettled her that she and Brie shared such a similarity.

"Don't worry about it," Delia said. "Instead, we'd like to ask your opinion for something."

"Yes?"

Delia pointed to the map on the table and explained the details to Anthony. "So what do you think? Which part of the temple would this be?"

"Can I go check out the temple? I didn't take a close look on the way here, considering Brie was rushing me to get inside," Tony said after taking a quick look at the map, as if committing it to memory.

"Why not?" Zaid shrugged and they all filed out of the trailer.

As they drew close to the temple, amazement lit Tony's face. "Oh my God! It's almost perfectly preserved!" He walked next to the temple and smoothed his hand over the stone, a look of rapture on his handsome face.

Delia decided then that perhaps archeology would be a good profession for him.

"We think it's magic," Zack said, the same look of amazement on his face.

"Magic?"

"Yes. This temple is too well preserved for it to be natural. Not one stone on the outside has corroded as it should be, considering it's a 3000 year old temple, so it must have been preserved in some way, waiting to be find," Marik explained.

Tony looked at him skeptically. "That's a fancy theory, but archeology is based on facts. Unless you can prove it, then don't talk to me of magic."

His condescending tone got on Delia's nerves. "You can't prove magic exists unless you believe it. It's because of ignorance like yours that magic no longer exists in this world."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Delia regretted them. But it wasn't her who had spoken them, but rather another.

Layla.

It only took Anthony a second to recover his cool. "Nice speech, but no matter what you say, archeology is science, and science doesn't involve magic."

They glared at each other before Delia growled, "You want me to show you?"

He smirked. "If you can."

"Challenge accepted."

Delia waltzed up to the temple doors, which were clear without any carvings. Determinedly, she placed her hands on it. Much like it did yesterday, the gates flashed with golden lights as the carvings appeared. When the light disappeared, the carvings remained even as the gates swung open.

Everyone's jaws dropped, even those who had witnessed her performance yesterday. Delia somehow felt the same, as there were no more feelings of being possessed. Yet, just from that short glimpsed of Layla earlier, she understood that Layla was someone who strongly believed in the power of magic. She had to, for she was revived from the dead by her father.

"How did you do that?" Tony asked with awe as he examined the carvings, which were already fading as the seconds ticked by.

"I told you. It's magic."

Delia held his gaze until she saw just a tiny bit of acceptance in his eyes. It was good enough. Then she quickly looked away, since it was still disconcerting to look at his eyes for it felt like she was looking into herself.

"Let's go in," she said seconds later with a smile and walked past Anthony into the temple. After a few short sentences of protests by Ishizu and Zaid, which she ignored, the others followed her reluctantly.

This time, nothing possessed her, for she felt completely like herself. Yet, all the same, the temple was familiar. She knew where every door led to and where every trap was. At first, no one trusted her, but after she activated the third trap on purpose, they no longer doubted it.

Throughout the temple, almost in every room were carvings or recordings of ancient and powerful Egyptian sorcerers summoning monsters from stone tablets to fight one another. Other rooms had carvings of monsters being drawn out of people with "ka" that originally possessed them. These monsters were sealed in stone tablets where they could be summoned.

Little by little, as Delia studied these walls, she realized that what Zaid told her was true, as well as Marik and Ishizu. Duel monster had indeed existed in ancient Egypt, except in a much gruesome and realistic way, for the monsters could not only harm structures around them but humans as well, including their summoners.

After Delia worked an entire day with the team so that they wouldn't trigger any traps accidently and hurt themselves, they could only uncover a few rooms in the temple. The structure was bigger than any of them had first thought. Other than what they could see from outside, there were stairs leading down to underground chambers full of traps as well.

When Delia asked if this many traps was normal for an Egyptian temple, Zack explained to her that this temple had more than usual because most of these traps were used to enhance fear in the people who had "ka" and thus encourage these same people to release their power so the priests could capture the monsters in the stone tablets.

Early in the evening, Delia was resting in the trailer waiting for the last of the work to be done so she could return to her hotel, when Brie came to the room. The girl hadn't gone into the temple with everyone else but instead stayed outside because she claimed that the temple was dirty ant not fit for a well-raised lady.

Delia thought that was kind of ironic, since Brie was anything but a lady, considering a lady would never throw herself at a man like Brie did with Zaid.

When Brie saw Delia sitting there, the girl stared at her warily. Delia smiled at her before going to the fridge to get something to drink.

"Do you want something to drink?" Delia asked and handed Brie a bottle when the girl nodded.

"Are you really Zaid's girlfriend?" Brie asked her, eyeing her suspiciously. Apparently, she didn't completely believe the act. The girl wasn't as dumb as Delia'd thought.

"What do you mean? Of course I'm his girlfriend." The last word tasted sour on her tongue. All the while Delia prayed karma wouldn't bite her in the ass for this.

"Don't think you can fool me!" The vehemence behind those words took Delia by surprise. "I watched you two today! You didn't act like a couple at all! You didn't do anything a couple does, like holding hands, sharing secret smiles, or looking at each other starry-eyed."

Delia rolled her eyes. The girl was a hopeless romantic, not that there was anything wrong with it. "Give me a break! We've just started dating. It's not like we're in love or anything. Besides, I can barely—" Oops! Delia caught herself before she let the truth slip.

"You can barely what?"

"Oh, nothing." Delia laughed nervously. Gotta keep my mouth shut. Can't let her know that I can barely stand that arrogant asshole.

Thankfully, the door opened just then and Zaid walked in. Upon seeing Brie, he halted as if deciding whether to come in or not. Since Brie had turned around to face him, Delia mouthed to him, "Don't you dare!"

Sighing, Zaid greeted Brie, crossed to Delia, and gave her a soft peck on the cheek. "Hi, sweetheart, you ready?"

Delia gaped at him for a second before recovering her wits. Never had she expected such a simple and sweet gesture from Zaid. Seto had never been so free with his affection, especially not when there was someone else in the room.

"Sweetheart?"

"Oh sorry." She really should stop comparing Zaid with Seto. It was as if she might be considering Zaid as something other than an annoying and arrogant jerk, which she wasn't. Besides, Seto's aloofness and her ability to crack his mask was what attracted her to him in the first place. "You were saying?"

"Are you ready to go?" Zaid repeated without the usual sarcasm. Instead, he sounded exactly like how a concerned boyfriend should sound like.

No wonder Brie was in love with him.

Who was this guy?

"Yeah."

Delia barely took notice when Zaid took her hand in his. It felt natural and sweet. She frowned. No, it was not natural and sweet.

It was weird and gross.

"What are you thinking?" Zaid asked as they drove through the city to her hotel.

"Just how gross it was to have you touch me," Delia said, sounding as acerbic as usual.

Her only answer was a grunt from Zaid. Good, better not give that guy any ideas. No matter what he did, it was all an act, Delia told herself. He wasn't sweet or considerate. Nothing of the sort. Not at all.

Delia missed Seto. If he was here, she wouldn't have all these conflicting feelings. As Zaid dropped her off at the hotel, she had a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't shake off.

It was the first time she regretted leaving Seto and coming to Egypt.

After a long plane ride across the Atlantic from one continent to another, Seto finally found himself in Egypt. He was more tired than a simple plane ride warranted, but that may be due to the fact he couldn't stop thinking about Delia these past few days. The dreams came more often now than ever. Now, when all he wanted was to go to the hotel and sleep off the weariness, he instead decided to go find Delia.

He had a feeling that he'd sleep easier if she were with him.

The car he'd rented ahead of time was already waiting outside. Seto told the chauffeur the address and then they were off. Even as part of his mind was preoccupied with Delia, another part was on business. His company didn't have any branch in Africa, but maybe he'd find some opportunities here and start one.

After an hour or so, the car slowed to a stop. When Seto looked outside, all he saw was sand everywhere. Yet, he saw the workers soon enough and the cars parked next to his and the trailer not far away.

Seto got out before the chauffeur could open the door for him. He found himself doing more of that lately, ever since he'd met Delia. With her, the rules and manners of high society seemed silly most of the time. He recalled once when he reprimanded Delia for not waiting for the chauffeur to open the door, and her reply was, "Why should I wait for someone else to open the door for me when I can do it myself? There'll be a time for that when I'm old and crippled, but not now."

The memory brought a smile to his lips, and he couldn't wait to see her.

With a quick glance around the area, he saw that it was still bustling with activity, even though it was already five-something in the afternoon. As he didn't know where to find Delia, he stopped one of the workers and asked, "Excuse me. Do you know where I can find Delia Yasune?"

The man, who was in his late-thirties, looked at Seto with surprise. Clearly he didn't expect someone in a business suit to show up at an archeology site. "Miss Yasune's in the trailer resting," he answered in a gruff voice after a second's pause.

"Thank you."

Seto headed to the trailer with quick strides. The sun was really bothering him. Maybe coming out here in a suit wasn't his best idea. But he really couldn't wait to see her. Just the thought of seeing her made all this worthwhile.

Nobody stopped him on his way to the trailer. Most people didn't even notice him. If they did, they only paused to gawk at him in his clothes before moving on to their job.

Seto leaped up the few steps and swung open the door.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that greeted him.

Nothing.

So it was no surprise that he froze on the spot and his mind went perfectly blank.

The work was becoming more and more interesting as days passed. All kinds of carved stone tablets were being taken out of the temple and examined. Translators worked on the manuscripts that they'd found inside the temple. Despite the episode with Layla, it hadn't happened again, and Delia was just enjoying herself helping to do whatever she could.

However, despite everything, there was a slight problem…

Brie.

Ever since the first time, the girl returned every day to the site even without Tony. Delia began to think that the girl really had nothing else to do. Such was the life of the rich.

Why else would Brie have all these free time to spend at the site doing nothing but stalking Delia and Zaid? In any other circumstances, Delia could have ignored someone like that, but not when everywhere she turned the girl was always there, watching.

It already freaked her out to have a stalker, but because of Brie, Delia also had to spend more time around Zaid dealing with Zaid's boyfriend acts.

When one day she actually found herself enjoying Zaid's company, Delia knew that something had to be done.

"Delia, we're done for the day! Let's go!" Zaid called to her from across the room. They were alone in this small room on the north side of the temple. Everyone else had already left, taking with them the last of the things from the room.

"This early?"

"Yeah. It's Friday, after all. I thought everyone deserves a break since we've all worked so hard this week," he explain while they headed outside.

Once under the sun, they headed to the trailer, where they usually rested for a while before heading back.

"That's nice," she said sincerely.

In the past week, she'd learned that Zaid was a hard worker, and he expected the rest of team to do the same. Yet he didn't push anyone too far to the point of exhaustion and was attentive to his colleagues' needs and feelings. Because of this, the others respected and liked him. It seemed that she was the only one who thought he was a jerk.

Now she knew better, but the knowledge disconcerted her somewhat. If she didn't even have a reason to hate him, what's to stop her from actually liking him in Seto's absence?

As if this wasn't already bad enough, having to deal with her traitorous feelings, Brie was waiting for them in the trailer.

"So do you two have any plans this weekend?" the girl asked pointedly.

"Not really," Delia replied without thinking. If it wasn't already bad enough she had to spend time near Zaid every day, she wasn't about to spend her weekend with him too.

"Oh too bad!" Brie didn't sound sorry at all. In fact, she looked absolutely delighted. "Zaid, my parents are wondering if you'd join us for dinner tomorrow night."

"Sorry, but my parents are coming tomorrow, so we're having a family dinner too," Zaid refused smoothly. Delia wondered if it was true since he hadn't mentioned it to her.

But then again, why should he tell her? It wasn't like they were really dating or anything.

Brie just nodded, but Delia could almost see the wheels in the girl's head turning through the gleam in her eyes. Delia did her best to ignore her and went to the fridge where she grabbed two bottles of water and handed one to Zaid.

"You know, I just realized something," Brie said slowly, "I never actually saw the two of you kiss."

Delia choked on her water.

"W…What?" she sputtered?

"Don't act dumb with me. I've been here for four days, and I have never seen the two of you kiss once. What kind of couple are you?"

What kind of stalker are you?

Delia barely restrained herself from shouting the words. If she wasn't Tony's stepsister, Delia would've strangled her a long time ago.

"Um… I'm sorry, but I have an aversion to kissing in front of people," Delia lied weakly.

Brie must've have seen through it, because she opened her mouth to protest. But before the younger girl could say a word, Delia had a moment to realize that Zaid's body had suddenly blocked her view before his lips locked on hers.

Delia fought, but just like the last time, Zaid overpowered her. His kiss was hungry; his emotions raw and savage, as if he'd been holding himself back this past week. Delia sensed that what drove him was beyond simple lust. There was something behind Zaid's kiss that she couldn't fathom.

Until Delia felt Layla's presence within her stir. It took her a moment to understand.

Layla was weeping.

A single name escaped.

Akhum.

Delia had no time to feel shocked as she was swept into the kiss. Zaid angled his head as he thrust his tongue in her mouth, tasting her as Delia found herself against the wall, her palms flat against his chest.

The sound of the door opening in the background barely penetrated the pleasure fog in her brain. Delia opened her eyes lazily, but they flew wide open in shock and horror as she saw the last person she expected standing there, staring back at her with the same expression, except it was almost immediately replaced by cold murderous fury.

Oh shit! What's he doing here?

A/N: so here it is... on to the most exciting part of the story!

Review please!

till next time,

-Yohina