The Alchemists

"Are you disappointed in me?" Alaric asked gently.

Aleksis shook her head. This was a risk that she must bear for falling in love with a much older man. She remembered that, before meeting Finland, Caspar, Aleksis' father was a notorious womanizer who, for hundreds of years, had a new girlfriend every month.

Her father was far worse than Alaric who only slept with women without having feelings for them.

"So now what?" Alaric asked again. "Because it was your first kiss, and I took it... I am willing to take responsibility. What do you want from me? I will grant it..."

Aleksis bit her lip ... This was a good opportunity for her to ask for something valuable from Alaric.

Aleksis could ask Alaric to marry her... or at least make her his girlfriend...

Or she could ask Alaric to go to her parents and ask for her hand in marriage ...

Ahh... that would be so embarrassing. How could she ask for such a thing from Alaric? They just kissed and there was no talk of love between the two, Aleksis scolded herself.

Finally, she made a decision.

"Uhm... my wish is... I want to see your face." She looked intently at Alaric. "I want to know you inside out... which includes knowing how you really look."

Alaric shook his head, "Sorry, I can't grant that one now. I'm afraid you'll have nightmares if you ever see my face. Even I don't want to see my own face..."

"But you said you would grant me my wish..." said Aleksis in protest.

"Anything but that," Alaric said firmly.

"Ugh... all right. Then I'll ask for a million dollars," Aleksis replied furiously.

It was really too much to ask for a million dollars for a kiss that Aleksis herself enjoyed. However, she was upset because Alaric refused her initial request.

Without blinking, Alaric took his cellphone from the table and handed it to Aleksis. "Write your account number there, I'll transfer it now."

"Ugh... you!?!" Aleksis dismissed the cellphone and it fell from the table. "You rich people... do you think everything can be solved with money?"

"Why... you are the one asking for money, aren't you?" Alaric asked. This girl started to confuse him.

"Yeah, that's true..." Aleksis suddenly didn't know what she wanted anymore.

Alaric's statement that he had slept with many women had disrupted her feelings. She felt jealous of the women she did not even know because they had taken Alaric from her, before she was old enough to meet him.

Ugh... what kind of thinking was this? She cursed herself.

"I just want to see your face. If you cannot grant my wish, then I will make you indebted to me for life," Aleksis finally said.

When he heard Aleksis' words, Alaric was amazed. In fact, he and Aleksis were very similar. They even said very similar words in similar situations.

He remembered when he was having a misunderstanding with the man called Uncle Rory, he demanded Rory to give him a million dollars, but then Alaric refused to accept the money and chose to make Rory indebted to him for life.

And tonight, Aleksis did the exact same thing to him...

Unconsciously he shook his head. This girl was a real match for him.

"All right... Little Girl. Maybe someday I can pay this debt. I don't know when, but maybe someday I will show this horrible face to you. Maybe when you are old and almost blind," Alaric finally said.

But I will never grow old and blind, Aleksis thought to herself. She was upset because she then realized she would never be able to see Alaric's face… ever.

"Hmmph... just like that?" Aleksis asked later. "Won't you ask me to be your girlfriend or something?"

"Hmm... why do you want to be my girlfriend?" Alaric asked in return. "You know my face is badly disfigured, and you won't be able to see it for the rest of your life. Do you not mind it?"

Aleksis nodded firmly.

Alaric gasped when he saw that the girl had not changed at all. She was still obsessed with him.

"Don't you think this is all going too fast?" Alaric asked her again. "You don't even know me."

"It's okay, you don't know me either. We're the same," Aleksis said.

"Then what's the point of us being lovers? We don't even know each other..." Alaric sounded almost desperate.

"You said yourself that if we met for the third time, it meant that we are destined. Don't you realize that it is true? Fate continues to bring us together, and for the past eight years I've always been thinking of you..." Aleksis looked at Alaric with a determined look.

"Aleksis... you don't know me. If you know the terrible things I do, maybe you will hate me..." Alaric said quietly.

"I know you are a good person... You have saved me many times, unconditionally..." said Aleksis stubbornly. "The rest, I'm sure whatever you do, it's because you have to do it and you have no other choice..."

"Your love makes you biased and it clouds your judgement," Alaric commented. "I don't know if what you feel for me is love or obsession... What is clear is that you are a strange girl because you like me..."

"So, what now?" Aleksis asked again. She was impatient because Alaric did not seem to have any intention to clarify their relationship.

She felt upset because it seemed that between the two of them, Aleksis was the one who insisted on wanting them to be lovers, while Alaric insisted that they should have nothing to do with each other.

That thought made her chest tight.

"Sorry, right now I can't invest my feelings in a woman. I kissed you by mistake. You are too amazing and for a moment I lost control. I suggest you look for a man who won't hurt you. A man who doesn't need to hide his face behind a mask..." Alaric shook his head in regret.

Aleksis gasped at Alaric's words. She did not expect that after all these years, her love was rejected, just like that...

Her mind became foggy and distraught as she stamped her feet and took her dog from the couch. She would not beg for love to a man who had rejected her.

"All right. Then, goodbye..." she said firmly, then walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She managed to hold back her tears until she entered the elevator and disappeared to the 100th floor.

Feelings of sadness, anger, and disappointment all blended into one.

In his office, Alaric could only sigh and poured whiskey to the brim of his glass and drank it quickly.

"Forgive me, Aleksis... You are the most amazing girl I have ever met, but I cannot fall in love with you. I will not be able to endure losing you after few decades because you grow old and die. We are too different... It's my destiny to always be alone..." he whispered softly, as if Aleksis were still beside him, listening to him sighing.