The Alchemists

Finland finally left for the United States and said goodbye to Singapore.

For 4.5 years she had regarded the city as her home. She had no fond memories of Jakarta, and aside from Singapore, she did not feel that she had a place to live. All her life she felt alone and alienated, therefore, for her to move to a new place was not too scary.

HR had prepared an apartment for her in Chinatown area and, while getting to know her new city, Finland decided to live there. Her office was located in the Financial District not far from Chinatown.

The first few days after arriving in San Francisco, Finland tried to walk around the area of her residence to recognize the surrounding environment. San Francisco was very densely populated and was never devoid of tourists. She was a bit surprised because she had never lived in a city full of tourists like that before.

The apartment was simple and close from a variety of Asian food stalls and supermarkets. It was also located near a beautiful park. She saw a lot of Asians in San Francisco, which made her feel like she was in Singapore again. Her apartment was located not far from her office, so she could walk to work every day. Finland initially felt that her new life in United States wasn't too bad.

LTX International in San Francisco had one department that did not exist in Singapore, namely the Market Research Department. This was a department that Tony founded with his own efforts. He made use of the knowledge he obtained from his Masters in finance.

This department conducted researches for various international companies who wanted to invest in the Asian market. They had research specialists for each region. Because the Indonesian market was increasingly eyed by investors, market research from various industries was in higher demand.

They sought and invited experts in each field to source insight for investment companies and hedge funds management companies interested in investing their funds in the Indonesian market.

Tony, who was impressed by Finland's work while in Singapore, felt that the girl would be the right candidate to help him in the research department when he moved to San Francisco. Finland was trustworthy, she really liked working and she would never forget Tony's kindness who gave her this opportunity.

"How are you?" Tony asked on the first day they came to the new office.

"I'm still adjusting to the climate here. It turns out that San Francisco is very cold..." Finland said. "But I can manage the rest."

"I know you said I don't have to give you special treatment," Tony said to her. "But I'm not a heartless person. You can ask for special treatment or extra leave if you need it. I don't mind as long as you do a good job."

"Thank you, Tony..."

Unlike in Singapore, Finland soon made friends in the San Francisco office. There was no evil girl like Meilin here to speak ill of her to everyone. Tony also made sure the staff in her department treated Finland well.

There were 8 staff in total in the Market Research department and they were all very busy. Only two people were under 30 years old and Finland soon became friends with them.

Anne Lee and Lucia Mendoza were very sympathetic when they found out that Finland was pregnant, and they took turns bringing healthy food so that the thin girl could become fatter. Their kindness touched Finland's heart and slowly her sad face and thin body began to get better.

Finland never stopped finding updates and information about Jean, but until five months after she moved to San Francisco, the man was still unconscious from the coma. She slowly gave up and thought that it was time to let Jean go.

Finland was eager to go to Paris and visit Jean at the hospital, but her pregnancy prevented her from flying. She hoped that Jean could survive until a few months after her child was born so that Finland could visit and say goodbye one last time...

"When do you want to apply for leave, Finland?" asked Anne as they ate lunch in the office. She pointed at Finland's already big belly. "Your pregnancy is almost 9 months, right? Are you still walking to the office?"

"Yes. The doctor said when the pregnancy is on its late term, I should walk more, so that the baby will go down quickly and I can give birth normally." Finland answered. She rubbed her protruding tummy lovingly.

Since moving to San Francisco, she felt a little better. She liked walking to the office, as taught by Jean. The cold temperature in San Francisco made walking a fun activity, unlike walking in the hot Singapore. Her nightmare had slowly gone, and every time she thought of the baby in her womb, she felt happy.

Soon Finland would no longer be alone. She would have her own family as soon as her child was born. The baby in her womb was what gave her the strength to survive until now.

"You still don't want to know the gender?" Lucia asked curiously. "Do you prefer a boy or a girl?"

"I want it to be a surprise," Finland said. "But whether my child is a boy or a girl, I will name it Aleksis..."

"Oh, good name. Aleksis can be used by both boy and girl." Anne nodded in agreement.

Finland smiled hearing that. She was able to smile again lately. Her days were filled with so many things that kept her busy, and slowly she was able to forget her sadness, as suggested by her doctor. She did not want her child to feel sadness since it was still in the womb.

She thought of her mother who became depressed after she gave birth to her, and finally died in sadness when Finland was only 10 years old. Finland did not want her child to suffer the same fate. Whatever happened, she must be strong and enduring, so that she could take care of her child well.

This child was now the only family she had.

After finishing their lunch, they returned to work. When Finland opened her email, she was surprised by several emails from Google in the inbox. She had saved the search word for Jean Pierre Wang to her account, so she would get a daily news' summary when Jean's name was searched on the internet.

Every time she looked for news about Jean, there was always no change. He was still in coma. Because of that, Finland changed her method and arranged for her to get a notification whenever there were many searches on Google about Jean.

If anything happened to Jean, of course the news search traffic about him would increase and Finland could find more information.

During the 5 months she was in San Francisco, there was no significant development and she almost gave up. But this afternoon her inbox contained several notifications at once, indicating that there was a lot of news searching for Jean today. She hurriedly opened Google and searched for the latest news on Jean.

As her gaze swept across her computer screen, Finland suddenly covered her mouth with a muffled sigh and tears slowly flowed down her cheeks.

She had seen various news on the first page of Google containing news articles about Jean Pierre Wang, who finally woke up from his coma.

"Oh Jean... finally you wake up..." she whispered deeply.

.

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From the author:

Yessss!! Finally Jean is awake!

The story is moving in a fast pace. To be honest you guys are lucky for getting 2 (long) chapters a day .. LOL

We can quickly get over the angst. Yeay!

The original novel was published for one chapter per day and the Indonesian readers had to put up with Caspar and Finland's ordeals longer. Trust me, most of them are just as mad as you at Finland.

I love you and I don't want you to feel upset for too long, so I'm working hard to make sure you can get two chapters a day and in a few days time you'll let out sigh in relief when this ordeal is over.

xxx