The Alchemists

After spending 3 days on Lauriel's farm, Finland finally felt a little better. The man kept her so busy with various activities on the farm that she had no time to be sad, from harvesting vegetables and cooking in the kitchen, to canoeing in the lake and exploring the valley to look for mushrooms and various medicinal plants.

Lauriel had a great deal of knowledge about various plants and he was like a botanist explaining the benefits of the various shrubs and trees they pass through. He could tell you exactly which ones could be eaten, and which ones are poisonous. He also told his world-exploring adventures and all his stories were very thrilling and awe-inspiring.

They returned to San Francisco feeling much better. When she returned to her office, Finland was able to control her feelings and work again. She then buried herself in work to forget her sadness due to Caspar's refusal to meet her.

Over the next few months Finland became like a robot who got up just to work and take care of Aleksis. The pattern of sleep – work – Aleksis was just on repeat.

Every month Lauriel took her and Aleksis to the farm for several days and only there Finland would feel a bit of relief. The beautiful nature slowly healed her broken heart. But when they returned to San Francisco, her robotic routine repeated and controlled her life.

Finland almost never smiled again.

***

"What are you thinking about?" Anne asked suddenly while they were having lunch together.

"Uhm... what?" Finland did not pay attention to Anne's words because she was busy with her own thoughts.

"See? You're not concentrating," said Anne, shaking her head. "Surely you have a problem..."

"Uhm..."

"Do you want to come with me and Lucia for a girls night tonight? Let us have fun."

"You can have fun because you don't have children," Finland said. "I have to take care of Aleksis."

"You can pay for a nanny. So far, when you go to work, who takes care of Aleksis? Maybe you can ask her nanny to take overtime for just this one day. Besides, Aleksis is almost two years old, so she should be able to be left longer." Anne urged Finland. "I mean... if you're happy, of course Aleksis will also be happy. Come on, when was the last time you watched a movie in the cinema?"

Finland hardly watched movies in the cinema except with Jean, so the last time she watched a movie was when Jean visited Singapore almost three years ago.

Suddenly she felt deep sorrow for Jean because she was missing him so much. She was still following Jean's career development and now her best friend had entered the movie industry in America. He shared his time between Los Angeles and Paris.

As she thought of Jean, Finland suddenly remembered that Jean's latest film had just aired in the cinema, and her longing became even greater. She wanted to watch Jean's movie and satisfy her longing for her friend because for two years she could not reach him.

"Hmm... okay, let's watch a movie. Have you seen 'The Thief' yet?" Finland asked them. Jean played as the best friend of the main character in the movie.

"Not yet, but the story is very interesting. We can watch that if you want," replied Anne.

"All right, then I'll come along. I'll tell Rory I'll be home late."

"Who is Rory?" Lucia asked curiously.

"My friend who looks after Aleksis..."

"Oh, okay. I hope he doesn't mind watching over Aleksis until the evening..."

Finland was sure that Lauriel would not mind taking care of Aleksis until night. He had actually asked Finland to allow Aleksis to stay over at his house, but Finland always refused because Aleksis was still so young. He had even prepared a beautiful room for Aleksis in his house.

[My office friends invited me to go to the cinema tonight. Would you mind taking care of Aleksis until 10 PM?]

[Sure. Have fun!]

Lauriel made Finland's miserable life bearable. She could focus on working, caring for Aleksis, and now she could even go out with her female friends because of Lauriel.

If she hadn't had Lauriel in her life, Finland would find it very difficult to keep her job. She had to stay at home to care for Aleksis and finance their lives with the money Caspar had given her.

At 19.30, Finland, Anne and Lucia entered the cinema. They had a quick dinner before going to the movie theatre and now they were enjoying popcorn while drinking soda. The movie would start in a couple of minutes

"Hey, I was told that the second lead is very handsome..." Anne commented in a whisper. "He stole the attention of the main star of this movie."

"He is a new actor from France, right? If I'm not mistaken, they are considering letting him play in the upcoming James Bond franchise," Lucia replied. "His name is... Jean, if I'm not mistaken. I forgot his full name."

"James Bond? But James Bond must be English, Jean is obviously half Asian..." Anne asked.

"Not for the James Bond role obviously, but one of the villains who becomes James Bond's enemy. Like an evil mastermind from Asia - something like that..."

"Ohh..." Said Anne, as she looked at Jean who just appeared on the screen, playing music at the wedding of the main character, "He has the face of an angel. If he gets to play the role of an evil mastermind in James Bond, it would be very interesting..."

"The director specifically asked him for the role. The director, Jonah Smith, really liked his performance in his last indie film." Lucia and Anne continued to talk about Jean every time the man appeared on the screen. They did it by whispering so they didn't disturb the other audience.

Finland did not pay attention to the two, her focus was only on Jean who graced the scene on the screen. Jean was currently living his dream of becoming an actor, and his popularity was increasing by the day.

Finland missed him so much.