The Alchemists

Atlas Corp was one of Caspar's favorite companies, because the purchase of Atlas Corp was the reason Finland decided to accept his love, and finally then they got married and lived happily until now.

Aleksis was very familiar with their products so she could know immediately that her husband is using a private plane from Atlas, but she continued to pretend to be impressed by it.

Alaric helped Aleksis get into his plane and showed the inside of the plane that was elegantly and luxuriously designed. There were already around 10 staff on the plane who were busy doing various jobs.

When Alaric and Aleksis entered the private plane, everyone took the time to pay their respects before returning to their busy work. Aleksis pretended to be amazed by the interior of the plane; there were two cabins for resting which were arranged in a very comfortable and luxurious manner.

This aircraft completely fulfilled its functions as both a home and an office in the sky. She looked around and felt content.

"Very cool!" she said repeatedly. Alaric was happy to see the girl awed by his plane.

"We will travel on this plane sometime for a holiday," he said later. "I want to take you to one of my favorite places in Romania."

"Why Romania?" Aleksis asked in amazement.

Alaric was silent for a moment. His expression seemed to be sad. "My mother's grave is in Romania."

"Oh ..." Aleksis immediately understood. She remembered that Alaric's mother died while giving birth to him. She did not think the man knew where his mother was buried. "Did you find her grave?"

Alaric nodded. "The midwife who took me to the orphanage visited me there once in a while. After I was old enough to understand, she told me what had happened and took me to her grave."

Aleksis squeezed Alaric's hand lovingly. This man really loved his mother and his life seemed to revolve out of revenge due to her death. Maybe, if Aleksis managed to change his heart, Alaric would be able to slowly forgive humankind for what had happened to his mother ...

"I will be very happy to come with you and meet your mother ..." said Aleksis in a soft voice, "I too want to bring you to meet my parents some day."

Alaric looked thoughtful for a moment. Four days ago, when Aleksis said she wanted to take him to see her  mother and her Uncle Rory who were as lonely as he was, he was still not ready.

But now he didn't mind it too much. Maybe it would be good for him to meet Aleksis' parents and introduce himself.

"We will arrange it after I return from London," Alaric agreed. "I hope your family will like me."

Aleksis could only nod and smile. She was already thinking about the best way to tell her family that she had found Prince Siegfried, the man of her dreams, and that they had been married secretly.

She knew that they would be disappointed, but she also knew that they loved her very much ... they would not be angry for too long ...

She kissed Alaric's lips and held him for a long time.

The time for separation finally arrived.

"Uhm ... I have something for you ..." Alaric said suddenly. He let go of Aleksis' hug and took out a leather-string necklace that had been hanging around his neck, then handed it to the girl, "I am very rich, but the most precious item to me is this necklace ... it contains my mother's hair ... I hope you are willing to accept it. I'm sorry I never gave you anything before and after we got married."

Alaric remembered that Aleksis had given him her white ring decorated with a white pearl when she was 12 years old, then a few days ago the girl had given him a bottle of miracle wound medicine, while he had never given her anything ...

Ah, actually, before Aleksis woke up, he was busy in his study taking care of the document to transfer the ownership of his mansion in Bukit Timah where they stayed.

He wanted to give the mansion to Aleksis because he loved the girl, and so that if Aleksis found out about him, Aleksis would not be able to track down the owner of the mansion because the ownership deed had become hers.

For him, his mansion was worth nothing compared to the value of necklace containing his mother's hair, so he wanted Aleksis to have this most valuable possession of his.

"Thank you ..." Aleksis received it, feeling very touched. She knew how important it was to Alaric.

"Here, I'll help you wear it," Alaric said as he walked behind Aleksis and brushed the girl's hair over her shoulder. He carefully placed the necklace around Aleksis' neck. After it was properly hooked, he kissed the nape of her neck and hugged her tightly. "I have to go now. Do you want to be escorted back to the dorm, hotel, or mansion?"

Aleksis shook her head. "I want to be here for a while. I will go home later. Tell your driver that he can go home."

"Are you sure?" Alaric asked her. "Takeshi and Mischa are here too, you just have to contact them if you need anything, okay?"

Aleksis nodded. They kissed one last time in Alaric's resting cabin for a few moments, then the man escorted Aleksis down from his plane and gave a signal for his driver to bring Aleksis back to the terminal.

"Have a safe flight!" Aleksis waved when Alaric got back on his plane and they smiled at each other one last time.

Somehow Aleksis' chest felt tight. She was not the type of woman who had deep intuition and she was always happy and carefree. But today she felt as though something bad was about to happen.

She kept feeling unease after she left the hangar and went back to the commercial terminal.

Aleksis never expected that this would be the last time she saw Alaric.