The Alchemists

A soft knock on Finland's pavilion door woke the girl up from a pleasant dream.

"Miss, before leaving for work, please come and have breakfast in the dining room with Master." Ms. Law said from behind the closed door. The old woman's tone sounded very cheerful. Finland nodded, half conscious because she was still sleepy.

The girl slowly got up and prepared herself for work. Before leaving to the office, she stopped by the main house as requested by Ms. Law.

In the large kitchen which also functioned as a dining room, Caspar was sitting down, waiting for her. On the table Finland saw that a variety of breakfast foods and tea had been beautifully prepared.

"From today onwards we will have breakfast together before leaving for work, and dinner together after returning home. I really miss Katrin's cooking," Caspar said with a broad smile. "I'm tired of staying in a hotel."

Finland smiled back. She was also happy to see Caspar and spend the morning together.

"What will you do today?" She asked as she poured some tea in her ceramic cup.

"I have several meetings in Hong Kong," Caspar raised his cup and Finland filled it with tea, "I'll be back before dinner."

"Oh... can you really go back and forth on same day?"

"I can," Caspar coughed a little, "That's one of the perks of having a private jet."

"Oh..." Finland didn't ask further questions. At this stage, nothing Caspar said could surprise her anymore.

The man was able to buy a hotel as easily as buying a shirt, cook perfect and delicious dishes, be a famous surgeon and own of one of the largest business groups in the world. Oh, he has also lived for hundreds of years...

So, adding a private jet on the list was not so hard... Finland was not surprised.

After they finished their breakfast, Caspar offered to take Finland to her office by car.

"Ah... no, thank you. I'm used to going to the office by bus." Finland rejected his offer, but Caspar wouldn't take no for an answer. He took her bag and held her hand, then lead her into the car.

"You must learn to accept people's kindness. Just say thank you."

"Uhmm... thank you." Finland nodded slowly.

"You're welcome." Caspar turned to Ben and told him to start the car, "We go to LTX International first before going to the airport."

Finland glanced at Caspar who was busy with his laptop during the drive to the office. The man looked more handsome when he was busy working. Finland found it hard to believe that Caspar was actually a very old man...

If she was not mistaken, he was now more than 400 years old, Finland thought. Finland could not imagine all the things he had experienced in his life, and all the knowledge he had acquired throughout the centuries.

Could it be that his maturity in thinking and his extraordinary understanding on how to treat Finland was because of his long life?

Throughout her life, Finland had never met a person with such patience.

When Caspar realized that the girl had been staring at him, he stopped working and turned to look at her with a smile, "You often give me that look... You must be thinking: oh... this man is so perfect."

Finland laughed softly and pinched Caspar's hand. "You are a very humble man..."

"It is so nice to see you smile," Caspar gently patted Finland's cheeks and resumed his work.

Finland smiled shyly and looked out of the window, trying to suppress her feelings.

***

Finland deliberately asked to be dropped off at a park one block away from her office building because she did not want to give her colleagues another reason to gossip about her. Thereon she walked to her office. As usual, Finland imagined that she was walking on the runway, as taught by Jean.

"Hi Finland, good morning."

Finland turned towards the voice and was surprised to see Tran, who was also walking to the office.

As far as she could remember, Tran never greeted her like this before.

"Uhm... good morning," she replied reluctantly. They then walked together to the office.

When Finland reached her office, she was surprised to hear that all other girls from the Marketing department started greeting her. Meilin was the only one who still pretended that she was invisible, but the others seemed to have warmed up and they were treating her better. She did not know that when Jean came to LTX, he made a special request that they be kind to his friend.

[I'm surprised... everyone in the office are treating me nicely. Maybe I don't need to resign and look for a new job after my probation is over.]

Finland sent WhatsApp to Jean.

[That's good. I am happy to hear that. Do you like your current job? My father also has a company, right? I can ask him for a job for you if you want.]

Jean replied five minutes later.

[Aha, no need. Thanks. I like my work here in LTX and I wish to see how the situation is in the next few months. I'm currently working on the gallery design for Katia Sorrenson's artworks. You must have heard about her, she's a famous artist.]

Ah, Katia.. the girl who might be Caspar's former fiancée...

[Katia Sorrenson? I know her. We met in London a few years ago. She's one of Karl Furstenberg's muses.]

[Oh... do you know much about her?]

[Not too much. Why?]

[It is okay. I was just curious about her personal taste so that I can make designs that suit her better.]

[I can invite her to dinner so you can chat more freely about the gallery.]

[That would be wonderful.]

[Tonight?]

[Uhm... I promised to have dinner with Caspar at home.]

[Oh... has he come to see you? What did he say?]

[Uhmm... yeah. We talked.] Finland hurriedly added [Thank you for your help. Caspar said he went to talk to you and you said many good things to him. We're fine now.]

[I can't stand seeing you heartbroken... I had to say something. I'm glad you both worked things out.]

Finland thought about the three days she spent in Jean's apartment, how she felt so miserable that she fell ill. She was indeed heartbroken at the time…

[Thank you.]

[Okay, let's have dinner with Katia Sorrenson tomorrow night, then. Will that be OK? I can contact her now and ask for her schedule.]

[Could you do that? That would be amazing.]

[Anything for my Finland.]

Finland smiled to herself. She was so lucky to have Jean as her best friend.