The Alchemists

Aleksis was very happy that she could hear Alaric's voice again. Inwardly, she was grateful that Takeshi met up with her and graciously gave his cellphone so she could contact Alaric.

She would never tell Nicolae that she no longer needed the chip from him. She was actually afraid that the man would put a bug on the chip to investigate her. Indeed ... it seemed that Nico was not the shady type to do such a thing, but Aleksis didn't want to take the risk.

In the feud between Terry and Nicolae versus Rhionen Industries, Aleksis was caught in the middle. She must now think of ways to reconcile them, or at least protect Alaric so Nicolae would not find his tracks.

"I am with Little Prince Siegfried," said Aleksis in a happy voice. She then put Takeshi's cellphone before her dog's mouth and tickled Little Siegfried Prince, "Hello Little Prince Siegfried ... this is Big Prince Siegfried on the phone ... Come on, go bark and say hi... "

Alaric laughed at Aleksis' antique behavior and her cute fat dog. He really missed both of them.

"Don't force it. I know your dog would rather open its mouth to eat than bark."

"Haha... you're right." Aleksis pulled her dog towards the lobby then sat down on one of the most comfortable sofas there.

"Are you okay?" Alaric asked. He was very relieved to hear that Aleksis' voice was still as cheerful as ever. It turned out that the girl could not take his calls because her phone-watch got broken, not because she was with other men who were better looking than him.

"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry, there had been a misunderstanding between Takeshi and Mischa, and Nico ... But I heard they were after the real criminal."

"Who is that Nico? I've never heard of this friend of yours ..." Alaric was a little annoyed at how Aleksis called Nicolae's name so intimately. He remembered that the young man did look very close to Aleksis.

"We are just friends. He is kind to me, yesterday he happened to find the people tailing me before Takeshi and Mischa noticed." Aleksis was completely unaware of the change in Alaric's tone of voice. "He also wants to help me fix the access chip on my watch. But now I don't need it anymore."

"He sounds smart, and he seems to be a really cool guy. I heard from Mischa, he is also quite tough and can fight Mischa really well," remarked Alaric again.

Inwardly, he scolded himself for being jealous. He should not care and be able to act like it was nothing, but it was proving to be a challenge. He still remembered the photo sent by his men earlier, which showed how close Aleksis and Nicolae were.

"Yes, many people adore him. If you open Splitz social media, you will see how popular he is."

"Hmm..." Alaric already knew because he had been exploring Splitz to find information about the other man.

"I heard that one of the criminals who wanted to kidnap me is dead. Is that your man's doing?" Aleksis asked him.

"That's right, Takeshi killed him. I don't know how an argument among regular students of a university managed to involve the mafia, but clearly this time they chose the wrong victim," Alaric said.

"Mafia? Which mafia? What kind of argument?" Aleksis asked, not understanding. "Are there mafia kids on my campus?"

"Hmmm ... actually, this girl didn't want to acknowledge her mafia father and chose to live in the dormitory, but for some reason yesterday she came to her father and asked for help to kidnap you. At least, that is the case according to the information that Takeshi got." Alaric frowned and tried to digest the situation, "She must be so angry at you. Otherwise, she wouldn't resort to this."

A student holding a grudge against Aleksis who was also living in a dorm? Was it Rosemary???

Aleksis covered her mouth and sighed. She had no idea at all ... If it was Rosemary, then it made sense. She might be holding a deep grudge against her because Terry was playing with her feelings, and Aleksis told her what really happened ...

But… Rosemary was the daughter of a mafia boss? Her chest shuddered at the thought of almost living in the same room as that sweet-looking girl. In her heart, she was grateful for finding out early who Rosemary really was before Terry got involved with her any further.

Wait a minute... If I'm not mistaken, Terry said he will meet Rosemary for lunch. Did they see each other already? It's almost dark now ...

"Ugh ... Please give me a moment. I have to call my brother. There is an emergency I must talk with him urgently," said Aleksis in a hurry. "I am SO GLAD to hear your voice again. Can we talk later?"

"Of course. Take care of yourself. I'll send another bodyguards to look after you."

"No no no... that's not necessary... My father will come here after he heard about yesterday's events. He has prepared additional bodyguards for me. I don't want him to be suspicious. The situation between us is still complicated ... Do you understand what I mean?"

Aleksis was trying to say the fact that they were secretly married and she still could not tell her family about it. Alaric understood, and he did not want to upset his wife, so he forced himself to agree.

"Are your father's bodyguards reliable?" he asked worriedly.

"I'll be okay, after all, Nico is also here," Aleksis' answer came immediately. "Oh ... I forgot to tell you but Nicolae is Uncle Rory's son. You remember meeting my godfather in Thailand 18 years ago, right? Uncle Rory is also in Singapore. I am now in the safest place in the world."

Alaric was silent. He remembered the man he met 18 years ago on the train to Chiang Mai when he first met Aleksis. So, Nicolae was the guy's son? No wonder his relationship with Aleksis was very close.

Once again, he felt discomfort in his heart.

"Hmm ... okay. You can call me before you sleep tonight. I want to hear from you. Whatever time it is, I will pick it up," Alaric finally said.

Aleksis was very happy to hear that. She felt that Alaric began to change and become more attentive. Alaric had promised to phone her once a day in the morning in England. But now he wanted Aleksis to call him before she goes to sleep.

"Yeayy !!" Aleksis subconsciously exclaimed due to excitement. "I'll definitely call you. Take care of yourself, my love. Tonight, we'll talk again. I love you."

"I love you," Alaric replied before hanging up and smiling to himself.

Sophia and Portia clearly saw Alaric's lips form the words 'I love you' when he hung up and smiled. The two exchanged glances again.

"Alaric already has a wife," Sophia said in a displeased tone, "The woman is a regular human."

"Oh ..." Portia studied Alaric and found that the young man looked happy after talking on the phone with his wife.

Portia started to feel uneasy. On one hand, she opposed a pure alchemist getting married to a regular human being. Her own family had the same strong opinion as her. But on the other hand, she could see that her nephew was happy and seemed to love his regular human wife very much.

***