The Alchemists

Terry was rather confused because he had come to the penthouse several times to meet his new guardian's family and he had not seen their annoying daughter, who had forced him to come to the Continental Hotel, but he did not dare ask where the girl was.

He had decided to join Finland's family because he realized that Jean was too busy to be his guardian, even though Jean was kind enough to offer to take care of him.

Terry could not imagine if Jean had to move to Singapore to live with him, leaving a successful career in Hollywood behind for several years.

The next consideration was, of course, he would then have three 'little siblings" who would make him feel no longer lonely. After living for fifteen years as an only child, Terry very much want to know what it felt like to have siblings.

Jean accompanied him at his home in Singapore while he completed his exam and took care of his various needs before he could move out of Singapore to join Finland's family.

To avoid people from freaking out, Jean hid his face with a hat and sunglasses every time he took Terry to school. Only the principal knew who he was when they came to his office.

Terry was showered with words of condolences for the death of his parents that week and his schoolmates were sad to learn that he would move out of Singapore. He was one of the popular kids and was well liked in school, so news about his departure made many friends feel at a loss.

"I just need a new atmosphere," Terry said to some of his friends as they were getting ready to go home, "Later I will return to study in Singapore."

"Really? I'm glad to hear that. It's not fun without you around," commented his friend who was of Korean descent.

Terry nodded surely. Singapore, after all, was his home. He would definitely come back here after he was old enough to live by himself. "Hmm... I'll arrange for a farewell party at my house. You can come this Saturday, right?"

"I can. We will come."

"Thank you." Terry received a call from Jean, who must have arrived at the school gate to pick him up. "I need to go now. See you later."

He walked quickly to the gate and found Jean waiting for him behind the steering wheel of a BMW. He went inside and both of them immediately drove away. They were heading to the penthouse for lunch with the Schneiders.

"On Saturday I want to hold a farewell party with my friends... After that, I could join the Schneider family..." Terry said on the way to the hotel. "When will we leave Singapore?"

Jean sighed. He didn't want to answer this question. They agreed that they would not discuss Aleksis in front of Terry for fear that he would blame himself for the kidnapping of Aleksis.

No one knew when they would leave Singapore. Of course, they had to wait until Aleksis was found. It's been almost a week and there had been no news.

Even Caspar, who had extraordinary access, couldn't find his own daughter. This made everyone feel very uneasy and worried that something had happened with the girl.

Because Jean didn't immediately reply, Terry suddenly had a bad feeling. He then asked more specifically. "Did something happen? I haven't seen Aleksis for a week..."

Jean only glanced at him and shook his head, "We don't know."

***

Because it was raining two days in a row, Aleksis and his savior did not go to Harbourfront to sail. They spent their time at home; the young man worked and Aleksis read a book.

After two days, Aleksis began to feel bored. She then decided to go around the library to see if there was anything interesting there.

"Hey... You have a Go game board. Can you play? Do you want to play a set with me?" Aleksis asked suddenly when she saw a set of Go game equipment neatly stored on a shelf. The young man, who was busy with his laptop, looked up in surprise.

"You can play Go game?" the young man asked Aleksis.

Aleksis shrugged. "I can. I learnt it when I was little."

"You're still little NOW..." said the young man, laughing. "Hmm... okay. We'll see how well you play."

Aleksis excitedly placed the Go board on the table and the two of them immediately got busy pawning their respective pieces and started the game.

Aleksis used the white piece and the man used the black piece. For a moment, the two of them were lost in the strategy game, and began to arrange step by step to fill the board.

Two hours passed so quickly, and both of them had filled almost half of the board. The steps that had to be taken became increasingly difficult and calculating. The young man glanced at Aleksis admiringly many times. He did not expect this 12-year-old girl to be very good at playing Go game.

Inwardly he began to guess who this child really was. She seemed to come from a wealthy family, she was also very beautiful and very smart, and judging from her stories about her adventures with her uncle, she seemed to lead such an unusual life.

"You are very clever..." said the young man after he finally admitted to losing to Aleksis when the game ended.

Aleksis frowned. "I shouldn't have won. Earlier you deliberately lost two steps back. Why did you do that?"

The young man was stunned for a moment and then laughed softly, "Ah ... so you know. I can't possibly let myself win against a girl. Besides, I'm older, and I have trained longer. If you're my age, you will definitely be able to defeat me easily."

"Does winning from a girl mean nothing to you?" Aleksis protested. "Am I meaningless in your eyes?"

"Wow... you are very competitive, Little girl. Well, I admit that I was wrong. I gave in a little bit because I don't like hurting girls, but if you want to compete seriously, we can do it later when you grow up. I have a principle that I should never fight with a child in any way. How old are you now?"

"I'm 12 years old," answered Aleksis.

"Hm... we will compete seriously at Go game when you are 20 years old. Within 8 years of course your abilities will be much better. We will become equal as opponents." The man ruffled Aleksis' hair cheerfully, "If we compete seriously now, you won't win anyway."

Aleksis pursed her lips in protest, but she realized that she could not force this man to compete with her. Finally, she could only agree.

"Alright... I'll come back in 8 years... We will compete in a Go match, and I will beat you for real," she finally relented.

"All right. I like your spirit." The young man tidied up their Go equipment and put it back on the shelf.