The Alchemists

Then the question arose, which Caspar had also asked himself ...

"Sir, what about the Schneider Group? Are you coming back?" Stanis asked him.

Caspar could only sigh. "I have no other choice. Until Aleksis recovers or London is mature, I must take care of it myself."

He had heard a lot about the actions of this new company that had caused much controversy, called Rhionen Industries. In many ways he felt that the Schneider Group had to be careful of that one company.

Many of the projects they had were at odds with those of the Schneider Group projects. Caspar knew he could not stand by and let go of his responsibility because he was responsible for the lives of so many people.

***

Aleksis was laid in a large room with large floor-to-ceiling windows. When the window curtain was opened, they could see the beautiful snow capped mountains and a grass field overgrown with various flowers. Since it was autumn, the weather was getting cold, so the windows were never opened; only the curtains.

Nicolae made sure all the equipment was working properly and the staff at home understood what had to be done. He had never seen anyone with a condition like Aleksis recover, but he still had positive thoughts that, being an Alchemist, the girl's body was different from ordinary humans and could slowly recover.

Lauriel had prepared various special ingredients which, in his experience, could accelerate the body's recovery. Finland would give these medicine every day to her child. Some nurses stayed at the mansion to provide physiotherapy to keep Aleksis' body healthy during her treatment, so that she would not become paralyzed when she woke up in the future.

The next day, Aldebar arrived with London and Rune, and for the first time Nicolae met Aleksis' entire family. He was impressed by the closeness and warmth of the Schneider family and soon understood why Aleksis had a very pleasant personality. It was because she had a warm and loving family.

"I'm London, Aleksis' younger brother," London said, introducing himself when he first entered Aleksis' room and saw Nicolae sitting by the bed, perusing the latest CT scan.

Nicolae immediately recognized the 17-year-old boy as Aleksis' younger brother because his face was very similar to Caspar's. He had jet black hair, a pair of brilliant blue eyes and sweet dimples. His body was tall and slim and he looked very casual in his thin blue shirt and short pants below the knee.

"Hello, London. My name is Nicolae, I'm your sister's friend," Nicolae said kindly. He turned his face to the side and saw another teenager, about 15 years old, entering from the same door. "Hello, you must be Rune."

Rune nodded. The boy had a face similar to his brother, London, but his hair was light blond and his eyes were dark blue. He sported a more serious look in his jeans and sweater attached to his shoulders.

"Hello," Rune walked toward Aleksis' bed and sat on the edge of the bed. "How long do you think Aleksis will be in a coma?"

Nicolae shook his head, "I don't know. It could take months, or years. I have to observe her condition closely for the next few weeks to figure out the progress of her recovery. After that I can make an estimate."

"So you will stay here to do the observations?" asked Rune in a probing tone.

Nicolae soon realized that Aleksis' brothers were as outspoken as their sister, and for a moment he did not know what to say. Of course he wanted to stay there to do his observations, but he did not want to offer himself without being invited by the host.

"I don't know," he finally answered. "If you don't mind, it's possible."

London and the Rune looked at each other, and simultaneously they both looked at Nicolae.

"He seems smart," London told Rune.

"Looks handsome too," Rune replied.

"He looks a lot like Uncle Lauriel," London said again.

"Uncle Lauriel is cool. His son should be cool too," Rune nodded.

Nicolae widened his eyes as the two teenagers talked about him as if he were not in the room. Even though their words sounded positive and were full of praises, he still felt awkward to be treated like that.

"Do you think he likes Aleksis?" asked London.

"Even a blind person can see that he does," Rune commented.

"Uhm ... I'm here, guys." Nicolae mumbled. "You are talking about me ..."

Nicolae could only shake his head to see the behavior of Aleksis' two younger siblings.

"It looks like he is strong ... he has a tall and sturdy body, just like Uncle Lauriel. What do you think his profession is?" Rune asked London.

London squinted at Nicolae carefully, "He holds Aleksis' medical report and seems to understand its contents. He was also allowed by Dad to wait on Aleksis here, which means, I suspect, that he is a doctor."

"Hmm .. I guess so too."

Nicolae finally realized it would be useless for him to ask London and Rune to stop talking about him that way. At least these two kids weren't talking about him behind his back, and they weren't saying bad things about him either.

Maybe he just had to get used to their behavior. He certainly could not change their attitude. Finally he consoled himself with such thoughts.

Terry, who was looking for the two boys, entered five minutes later and when he saw Nicolae's sour face, he immediately realized what had happened. Terry just shook his head to see his younger brothers' behavior.

"Are they talking about you?" he asked Nicolae. The young man could only nod wryly. Terry smiled broadly. "It's a sign that they like you. I was treated like that too when I first met them. If they didn't like you, they wouldn't care about you at all."

"Oh ... I got it," commented Nicolae. He looked at the two boys and then an idea crossed his mind. He then nodded at Terry. "I don't mind them talking about me like that. It looks like they're smart kids. One is very similar to his father, the other is not. Are they not really siblings?"

"Oh, one is indeed more like Uncle Aldebar than his father. We often tease him and call him Uncle Aldebar's son. His nature is also similar to Uncle Aldebar's." Terry immediately figured that Nicolae wanted to get back at London and the Rune by discussing them in front of the two. He then added. "He is very scared of spiders."

"Oh, I see?" Nicolae asked with a faint smile. He looked at Rune who seemed to shudder when he heard the word 'spider'. Nicolae then turned to Terry, "What about the one who looks like his father, what is he afraid of?"

Terry smiled, "He's not afraid of anything, but he thinks of his herd of sheep is like his own children. He will get into a panic if you say you're hungry and want to eat lamb."

Nicolae laughed at Terry's explanation. London and Rune looked at each other. They realized that Nicolae and Terry were retaliating to them. Both of them put on a frowning face and left Aleksis' room.

When the two teenagers disappeared, involuntarily Nicolae and Terry happily high-fived each other in the air. Terry seemed very satisfied.

"Jeez ... you don't know how much I want to avenge them. But it's really hard to do it alone ... Hahaha ... Luckily, now I have you to do it."

Slowly a smile appeared on their lips and finally Nicolae and Terry laughed and patted each other's shoulders.

From today, not only Wolf and Billie Jean, but Nicolae and Terry were also officially friends.

***