The Alchemists

"Well, let's go to campus now, I want to immediately find my phone-watch ..." Aleksis said. She quickly prepared to take her bag and wore her shoes and then bid goodbye to Lauriel. Nicolae followed behind her.

"You can just buy a new phone with the same privacy settings as your old one, right?" Nicolae asked curiously as he walked around Aleksis who had pressed the elevator door button. "If you buy it online now, you will get it in an hour. All your contacts and lost data can be recovered. I can help with that ..."

"It's okay ... I don't like to be wasteful and buy new things if I still have my old one ..." Aleksis answered casually.

She actually didn't need her phone-watch back. She only needed the connecting chip to Alaric. She didn't care about any other contacts ... she just needed to contact Alaric.

But of course, she wouldn't let Nicolae know that.

"Why is it wasteful? Do you know the value of the entire Schneider Group's wealth?" Nicolae asked her in confusion. Buying one of the most sophisticated mobile phones was for the Schneiders the same as buying a cheap candy.

Aleksis did not reply. Finally, Nicolae just shrugged and followed the girl without saying anything more. They went down to the basement where Carl and Sascha were waiting for them in a bulletproof Mercedes.

They did not want to take any chances at all; this time they would take their young miss anywhere she wanted to go with extra security. Their attitude was exactly like when the special forces soldiers would advance to the battlefield. If Aleksis wasn't feeling upset about losing her phone-watch, she might even be amused by her bodyguards' behavior.

"We can use my car ..." Nicolae said, pulling out his keys.

"We  can't. There is too much blood in your car. Yesterday, I asked the staff to take it to the car salon," Aleksis answered. "Carl and Sascha can take us."

"Uhm ... okay." Nicolae put the keys back in his pocket and walked toward the Mercedes. Carl quickly opened the door for them and after the two sat down nicely in the back seat, he closed the door and sat next to Sascha who would be driving.

"Miss, we are very worried about what had happened to Miss yesterday," Carl said worriedly. "As per your orders, we kept our distance because you had those two other guards. We didn't expect that yesterday they didn't work well enough when Miss was almost kidnapped. Where were the two bodyguards sent by your boyfriend? Why didn't they help you?"

BAM!

"Boyfriend?" Nicolae muttered to himself when he heard Carl's words. He then turned to Aleksis who was still feeling upset and did not hear at all what the bodyguard just said.

"Uhmm ... What did you say, Carl?" Aleksis asked him with half-closed eyes and a mind that was not properly attached to her body.

"Carl asked you where the bodyguards that were sent by boyfriend were." Nicolae answered Aleksis' question. He looked at her with a complicated look, "Do you have a boyfriend?"

OUCH!

Aleksis widened her eyes at a sudden question from Nicolae. Shit shit shit ... She should have coordinated with Carl and Sasha so they wouldn't just casually talk about her 'boyfriend' in front of everyone.

Fortunately, Aleksis was a very intelligent girl and she was quick to handle the situation. She just shrugged nonchalantly.

"It is only proper for a girl so beautiful like me to have many admirers," she then glanced at Nicolae with a mischievous smile, "You agreed yesterday to be my fake boyfriend on campus, right? Do you think you're the only one?"

Oh ... Nicolae immediately calmed down. It was true; yesterday he himself offered Aleksis to be her fake boyfriend, though of course inwardly he hoped that someday their fake relationship could become real.

Could it be that he was not the only man who offered Aleksis to be her fake boyfriend? Maybe Aleksis did have some other men lined up, and none of them were taken seriously by her. Aleksis seemed to be a very fun girl to be with. Yesterday, in the cafeteria, she acted so cute toward Terry and acted as if she was Terry's girlfriend to make Anjali angry.

Terry was the one who betrayed Aleksis and claimed to be her brother.

Hmmm ... alright. Aleksis could have a lot of fake boyfriends, but Nicolae would be the best of them all, so that the girl would not feel that she needed the others.

"Carl, I haven't introduced you guys ... This is Nicolae ... he is ... uhm ... my distant cousin," said Aleksis. "Right now, he is also pretending to be my boyfriend. He rescued me and took me in his car yesterday when he saw suspicious people who had the intention to kidnap me. You can later coordinate with Nicolae to investigate who the kidnappers were ..."

"Fake boyfriend?" Sascha was smiling while shaking his head, looking at them through the rearview mirror. "Then Young Miss is a playgirl, huh? How nice of you to play with the hearts of so many men ..."

"Ssshhh ... watch your words, Sascha. I'm not a playgirl, okay..." snorted Aleksis, but her tone didn't sound angry at all. She knew that Sascha was just joking. "Yeah, yesterday, when Nicolae rescued me, Takeshi and Mischa chased after us. They thought that Nicolae was the one who wanted to kidnap me ... They all had a fight and were injured ... Apparently it was all just a misunderstanding."

Nicolae could see the surprises in Carl and Sascha's faces. They quietly looked at him from the rearview mirror.

They did not expect that Nicolae managed to survive against two top assassins from Rhionen Assassins. Their Young Miss told them that Mischa and Takeshi were already at the Dragon and Phoenix level! And he even managed to injure them.

What kind of person was this guy? Both of them were very surprised.

"What is it, Carl?" Finally Nicolae could not help but be curious and ask them. "You look like you just saw a ghost."

Carl looked back and held his breath, "You ... you're so amazing ... You fought with two of the highest levels assassins of Rhionen Assassins and you are not dead yet ... Instead, you are now sitting casually in this car as if nothing happened." 

What the ...

"Rhionen Assassins?" Nicolae frowned and turned his head toward Aleksis, to confirm that Carl had not made a mistake. "What did he say? Rhionen Assassins?"