The Alchemists

Jean arrived outside the gate breathing heavily. He looked around and asked everyone if they saw a girl who had been waiting by the gate for hours.

"Oh, yes... there was one girl. She waited for you since noon," said James, the assistant director. "Maybe she finally went home."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Jean asked quickly.

"We didn't want to bother you. You know how crazy fans are these days..." James answered, shrugging. Jean couldn't blame him. Things like that often happened before.

"Finland... !!!" He finally walked around the block while calling Finland's name. Maybe the girl was still around and heard him. "Finlaaaand...!!"

After some time searching without any results, he finally decided to return to the set. He paused in front of the gate and studied the music box in his hand. With a sigh he placed the music box in his coat pocket.

Jean was about to walk in when suddenly his waist was hugged from behind.

"Jean..."

Jean was startled. This girl's voice felt so familiar. He had heard Finland's voice over the phone, but at that time he had just recovered from a coma and could not remember well. Now her voice sounded very familiar.

"Finland? Is that you?" he asked softly. He held Finland's hands on his waists, "Are you here to see me?"

Finland could only sob quietly. She was very relieved to hear Jean's voice again.

Jean immediately turned and hugged Finland, he could not hold back his tears.

"I'm sorry... I can't remember you. I'm sorry for not being able to remember you..." he whispered repeatedly. "I'm sorry... Let's start over again..."

For a while they wept silently which attracted the attention of many people who passed by, but neither Jean nor Finland cared. Finland had been separated from Jean for almost three years and she had felt very lonely.

Jean asked permission from the director to delay the filming because his meeting with Finland was an emergency event. Jonah Smith, the director, understood and decided to postpone the filming of Jean's part for several days.

"How did you know I was in Normandy?" Jean asked as they both sat in the trailer and drank tea. "Oh yeah... Sorry, how are you doing?"

Finland felt a certain melancholy because Jean still did not remember her, but the man knew that at some point in his life, Finland was an important person to him. Rosalind Marchal had told him a lot about Finland and he also began to see traces of the girl in his Instagram account. The article in the Upkeep magazine really convinced him that Finland was his best friend.

"I... now live in San Francisco," Finland was trying to sound calm. She still could not believe that Jean was in front of her now and they were talking. "I moved there 2.5 years ago."

"Oh, I have an apartment in Los Angeles, sometimes you have to visit me in LA..." Jean said immediately, "It is only a few hours by train."

"Yeah, I'll definitely see you in LA..." Finland smiled and nodded. "Do you still have your apartment on Robertson Road, Singapore? I lived there two months after graduating from college because I didn't have the money to rent a room... You were very kind to me and let me stay there."

"Ahaha... that's nothing," Jean said. "I sold my apartment in Singapore because I rarely go there. Now I spend more time in LA and sometimes I return to Paris."

"Oh... what about your apartment in Arr 13, is it still there or have you sold it too?" Finland asked again.

"I had to let that one go..." Jean said. "A lot of people know the old place, so I couldn't live there anymore. There was no privacy for me there."

"Oh... a lot has changed..." Finland said softly. "Three years is a long time."

"How about you?" Jean asked. "Tell me what happened all this time?"

Finland shook her head, "I'm sorry... Because of me you were dragged into this mess..."

"A lot of strange things happened..." Jean said quietly.

Finland looked into Jean's bright brown eyes and realized that now that Jean had indeed become like Caspar. He was now an Alchemist. Jean's face was exactly the same as she remembered almost 3 years ago. He didn't age at all. This meant that Jean had been living as a new person and knew nothing about his own body.

"I'll tell you everything... but not here. There are too many ears around here, and I don't want you to be worried..." Finland said later. "Do you believe me? Will you wait for my explanation? I can't tell you now... But I promise, I'll tell you everything."

Jean stared at Finland for a long time. There were so many things he wanted to ask her, but he held back and nodded in agreement.

"All right... I believe in you. If you were my best friend, surely I believe in you. Whatever it is about..." Jean said later. "I'm really glad that journalist wrote an article about the two of us... Otherwise I would never have found you."

"I'm happy too, Jean. You don't know how much I missed you," Finland took Jean's hand and patted his cheek. "You were my only family in the world... When you fell into a coma and then forgot me, I could barely live."

Jean looked very guilty. He did not understand how he could forget the sad-eyed girl in front of him. Seeing her in tears made Jean's heart ache. He felt that he would do anything for this girl.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to forget you..." he whispered.

"It's not your fault... Please, don't blame yourself. It happened partly because of my mistake too... And now I'm waiting for good news. There is a possibility that we can treat you and recover your memory..." Finland said quickly. "I don't want to give you too much hope, so we better not discuss it now. If you are willing to come with me to Colmar, I will share some of what happened to you..."

Jean remembered that his mother said he had been to Colmar a number of times and that he had only just returned from Colmar with Finland when the murder attempt took place.

"Of course, I will come with you to Colmar. I will get out of this movie production if necessary. Right now, there is nothing more important than knowing what happened to me 3 years ago..." Jean said without hesitation.

"But if you come out of this movie production, won't there be a penalty for your contract? Or something like that?" Finland asked worriedly.

"I can take care of it."

Jean met with Jonah Smith, the director of his new movie, and discussed the change in schedule. It turned out that they agreed to postpone his part of the shooting. They gave Jean two weeks to take care of his business. Right now, his life was under the spotlight, and all publicity around Jean was considered good for the promotion of the movie he was working on.

Not long after, Jean followed Finland back to Paris. The plan was to visit Rosalind Marchal for dinner and go to Colmar by car the following day.

"Gosh... Finland...!! I'm so glad to see you!" Rosalind exclaimed when she opened the door and found Jean and Finland standing in front of her. She immediately hugged the girl very tightly. "You were gone for so long, ma cherie... You're even more beautiful now than before."

Finland was touched because Rosalind still remembered her and throughout dinner she tried to remind Jean about the things he had told his mother about Finland. She felt as if their dinner three years ago was replayed before her.