The Alchemists

Finland moved out from Rose Mansion the next day after she paid the rent and deposit fees for her new place. Her new apartment was fully furnished, and she only needed to bring clothes.

When she was taking her stuff out of their bedroom, she stopped in her tracks and glanced at the room she shared with Caspar. Then, she looked at the whole house, which was filled with so many beautiful memories. She couldn't hold back her emotions and tears started flowing down her cheeks.

"Madam, Master told me to take you wherever you need to go," Ben said as he appeared at the door when Finland unloaded her suitcases with John's help.

"Thank you, Ben, but I have ordered a Grab car." Finland would not let Caspar find out about her new place of residence through Ben. "I'm no longer the lady of this house. You don't have to use formalities."

Ben seemed depressed to see the current condition of his two employers. Ms. Law, Kathrin and John also looked very sad.

"Master is innocent..." said Ben.

"I saw with my own eyes what happened. You were not there, Ben..." Finland shook her head with clenched jaws. She still couldn't forget that event. Every night she had nightmares, and scene after scene seemed to be played back in her sleep.

A flash of Famke barging in through the door, beating Jean. A flash of her shooting him, and then insisting that Caspar ordered her to do it. Famke did not change her story even though she was threatened with death.

If it was not Caspar who ordered Famke to kill Jean, why didn't Famke desperately admit it? Who would be stupid enough to die for a lie? This made no sense...

Finland knew Caspar had always been jealous of her relationship with Jean. She was tired of explaining to him that for her Jean was like her own family. Jean for Finland was her father, brother, and best friend who for 4.5 years had always helped her unconditionally ...

He was even going the extra mile to find her biological father by sending letters one by one to everyone who had the family name Makela in Finland.

He also sincerely wished Finland happiness with Caspar after knowing they were married...

Finland was never able to repay Jean's kindness to her... instead, she almost caused his death because of her husband's jealousy. This made Finland feel very guilty...

She regretted her decision to marry Caspar so quickly. The perfect man lured her to the point where she did not use her common sense that she usually held very firm.

She always knew that if someone was too perfect, they must have a fatal flaw hidden... the more perfect they are, the bigger the flaw. However, she ignored all the warnings and allowed herself to be carried away by Caspar's charm, good looks, wealth, and all his power... moreover, she was willing to marry him even though they have only known each other for 6 months.

It turned out that there were so many things that she could not get used to, and there were things that until now she could not accept.

This was not the life she wanted. She was not willing to erase Jean's memory, the man had been very nice and sincere to her so far... She would rather be punished than be an ungrateful friend.

But she did not expect that she would be punished with Jean's death.

So far, there had been no news about Jean's chances of survival because he had not yet woken up from comma. This made Finland very stressed and she lost weight drastically. Within a week she looked very thin and haggard.

Finland left Rose Mansion with tears in her eyes when the Grab car she ordered arrived. After the Grab car disappeared, a black Maybach entered the yard and Caspar got out of the car with a grim look, followed by Jadeith.

"You must go now," said Jadeith. "The longer you are in Singapore, the faster the killers sent by the Meier family will find you."

"I can't leave Finland here alone," Caspar said quietly.

"The news of your separation at the airport has spread among our people. They now assume that you have separated because of what happened to Jean. Madame is now no longer a target. Uncle, you must think about yourself." Jadeith insisted, "We better wait for the situation to calm down and take the next step."

Caspar did not answer, but finally he nodded and signaled his staff to gather in the living room and gave his final message.

"I have an urgent business to tend to and cannot return to Singapore for a long time. You take good care of this house. Stanis will stay in touch with you."

Ms. Law, Kathrin and John looked very depressed. They had heard about what happened from Ben, but hearing a confirmation directly from Caspar made them even sadder. Moreover, Finland also decided to leave Rose Mansion just a few moments ago.

***

Finland daydreamed a lot in the office. When she entered the office after returning from a month's leave, her colleagues from her department immediately approached her to ask for information on what happened with Jean. With great difficulty she avoided their questions and tried to refrain from crying. Until now she did not know how Jean was doing. The feeling of helplessness made her very depressed.

[Katia... sorry to bother you. I want to ask if you have Jean's manager's phone number or his agent's?]

She did not contact Caspar to ask for information; she couldn't bring herself to do it. She would rather contact Katia, whom she knew had connections in the entertainment industry.

One minute later Katia called her.

"Oh, Finland, I've heard what happened to Jean. I'm sorry too..." Katia's voice sounded concerned. "I never thought Caspar would go that far..."

"What do you know?" Finland asked in a trembling voice.

"I recognized Famke's face in the news. I knew she was Caspar's bodyguard that he trusted the most... I immediately concluded that she was assigned by Caspar to attack Jean." Katia took a deep breath, "I've been with him for 50 years, but I never knew he had the heart to do such thing. I guess he really loves you, so much that he let his jealousy cloud his judgement."

Finland clenched her jaw hard.

I don't need to be loved like that, she thought sadly.

"I need the contact number of someone who can give me access to Jean. I want to know his condition. His phone number is no longer active." Finland tried to convey her intentions quickly. She didn't want to talk to Katia for long.

"Hmm... I don't have his agent's phone number, but I can find out. I'll send it to you later."

"Thank you."

Katia kept her promise and gave Jean's agent's phone number to Finland the next day.

[Hello good afternoon, my name is Finland. I'm a friend of Jean in Singapore. How are things with him now?]

Her text was not replied. Finally, Finland was forced to call the French number. She was feeling frantic. Maybe the number was wrong.

"Hello..."

"Who is this?" asked the voice at the other end.

"This is Jean's best friend."

"Sorry, I don't believe you. You are the umpteenth person who claims to know Jean. He is still in a coma and does not need interference from the news chaser."

The call was disconnected.

Finland desperately tried to keep calling but her call wasn't picked up. She could only cry and slam her phone.

Oh Jean... wake up... I'm very worried. Nobody wants to tell me how you are doing….