The Alchemists

Jean's apartment in Paris, like his apartment in Singapore, had one bedroom but a slightly larger living room and kitchen. Finland immediately felt at home when she entered the apartment. In contrast to his apartment in Singapore, which looked more minimalist and stiffer, Jean's apartment in Paris had more color and looked more vibrant.

"I like the arrangement," Finland praised. "Your taste is always good."

"Thank you. A little messy, I haven't had time to tidy up... ahahaha."

Jean turned on the heating and then brought Finland's suitcase to his bedroom and placed it in a corner. "Now that you've become someone's wife, I have to keep my distance a little. You sleep in the bedroom, I'll sleep on the couch."

"Ouch, Jean... I am the guest, therefore I should be the one sleeping on the couch!" Finland protested.

"Ahahaha... my couch is really comfortable. You don't need to worry about me," Jean laughed. He then took out a bottle of Baileys from the refrigerator and poured each of them a glass. "Let's take a break first to warm ourselves up. Later this afternoon, we will take a walk to Sacre Coeur. It is quite a walk up there, so consider it a workout ... hahaha..."

Sacre Coeur was one of the old churches in Paris which was very famous. It was located at the summit of the butte Montmartre, which was the highest point in the city. The view of the city of Paris from the hill was very beautiful, which was why many tourists flock to visit it at any time of the year.

They sat enjoying Baileys while chatting about Jean's work and the city of Paris. Finland was very amazed to see so many magazines in Jean's apartment that contained his photographs.

She also noticed that, when they were walking to the apartment, several people turned their heads and looked twice when passing them, as if they recognized Jean from somewhere. When landing at the airport of Charles de Gaulle, Finland also saw Jean's face on the billboard for a perfume ad.

"Billie asked me to be a model in her new video clip later," Jean said when the TV featured Billie Yves's music. "By the way, she sent her regards..."

"Really? Whoaaa..." Finland's face suddenly felt hot. Her idol apparently still remembered her! "Where is she now?"

"She has returned to the States. She has completed a new album and will launch it soon. The first video single from her new album will be shot in Paris. She asked me to be a star in her music video."

"Wow... so cool!! I can't wait to see the video."

"You'll be the first to see it," Jean said happily. The Baileys in his glass was gone and he took his coat, "Let's go for a walk."

Jean had bought a Navigo card for Finland so they could take the metro and bus everywhere. He wore a thick coat, gloves, a beanie hat and a wool scarf that protected his neck. When they were walking toward the metro station, he finally noticed that Finland was not wearing a wool beanie and gloves. He looked astonished.

"Aren't you cold? Why don't you bring a beanie and gloves?" he asked.

Finland, who just went to Europe for the first time, only carried a jacket, a pullover, and a thick scarf. She did not have a beanie and gloves. She did not know what the temperature in the winter would feel like and that the blowing wind could make her whole body cold, because the hands and ears had many nerves and was too exposed to cold air.

Now she understood why many people went out wearing gloves and ear protectors or wool hats in the winter.

"I didn't know that I needed beanies... I thought people wear them just for fashion," Finland admitted in a low voice.

"Beanies and gloves aren't fashionable... ahahaha… people wear them because it's necessary." Jean laughed at her, "You've been in Europe for more than two weeks already, how did you survive without gloves and beanies all this while?"

"We were always in a heated space, and we rarely walked outdoor like this," Finland just remembered that she and Caspar never took public transportation and very rarely walked outdoor; everything was made very comfortable for her, "We did go out when we were in Spain and Portugal, but the temperature there was not as cold as in Paris. I could walk around without gloves."

"Oh, no wonder." Jean took off his gloves and placed them on Finland's hands, "Just use mine, they are a little too big, but it's better than being cold. Later, when I see a shop selling gloves and beanies, I will buy new ones."

He also placed his beanie on Finland's head.

"Thank you..." Finland smiled with gratitude.

They then walked hand in hand into the metro station. Indeed, after wearing a beanie and gloves, Finland felt much warmer. As a girl from the tropics, she struggled to get used to the winter in Europe because before coming there she had no idea at all what to expect. Luckily, she had Jean by her side.

The metro in Paris was very complicated for first-timers or tourists. There were so many different lines that were marked in color, then there were different types of trains that lead to different districts. The transportation cards available had packages that serve only certain districts or all districts with different prices. Enough to confuse people.

For people who weren't used to using public transportation, buying 10 metro tickets at once would be cheaper because the price was discounted from 1.8 euros to 1.4 euros per ticket and could be used for one way at any distance.

When they were queuing to get through the ticket gate, Finland was surprised when she saw the person in front of her suddenly jump over the ticket gate and did not stick a card or ticket on the scanner.

"What is he doing?" she asked astonished.

"Oh, that's someone who doesn't want to pay for a ticket," Jean said. "Maybe he doesn't have money. In Paris there are many poor and homeless people."

"Oh..." Finland was surprised to hear that. She did not expect that in a developed country like France, there would still be homelessness and people who did not pay for tickets. In Singapore, no one would dare to ride the MRT without paying. They were all afraid of being caught by the police and subjected to large fines. "Are they not afraid of the police?"

"Here in France the police rarely patrol the metro stations. In Germany it is a little bit different. In Germany, officers often patrol and enter the train carts at random intervals to check for tickets, because there are no gateways like this, so anyone can take the train without a ticket, but if they are caught during that random inspection, the fine can be huge."

Finland learnt something new from her trip to Europe this time. When compared to France and Germany, apparently Singapore was really very orderly and organized. Singapore was a developed country that was not inferior to western countries.

The only significant difference would probably be that Singapore lacked the beautiful and magnificent old buildings that were hundreds of years old, like the buildings that could be found in Europe, because Singapore was a young country.

They chatted along the way and Jean told her the history of the place they were going to visit.

"Do you want to go up with the cable car or walk?" Jean asked when they arrived in the Montmartre area. This was the highest area in Paris and many people walked up this hill to exercise and warm their body. Therefore, Finland also decided to walk.

This was a decision which she would later regret.