The Alchemists

Marion woke up when the sun was already high. She unconsciously jumped from the bed and was stunned for a moment. She felt like she had a beautiful dream and did not want to wake up, but her subconscious knew she had a job to do.

Hmm ... She smelled food from the kitchen and her stomach immediately responded, growling. It was telling her she was hungry. Her head was a little dizzy too because she drank too much last night, 3 glasses in less than half an hour. Jeez.

The last thing she remembered was leaning on Jean and falling asleep. The next thing she knew this morning was that she was in her room and had slept in her bed.

Ahh... Of course Jean carried her into the room ...

This thought made Marion smile a little. She also recalled what other things happened last night. She and Jean teased each other a lot and then discovered they clearly liked each other. Marion was very happy to remember what they did. They chatted a little and kissed twice. It was a very pleasant night.

It turned out that Jean's romantic roles in the film were not just some fantasy of his fans. Jean himself surprisingly seemed like a very romantic man.

Marion chuckled softly. She washed her face and rushed out to the kitchen, following the smell of food that made her hungry. There she found Jean cooking fried rice in a casual manner while humming softly.

Ah, yes ... they were in Southeast Asia, precisely in the country where Jean was born, Singapore. Fried rice was the typical food served here for breakfast.

"Good morning," Marion greeted him in a still sleepy voice. She sat at the dinner table. With a pair of eyes glazed like puppies, she tilted her plate toward his direction, signaling him to fill it with food. "I am hungry..."

Jean laughed at her behavior and immediately poured the fried rice into her plate before scooping another serving to put into his own plate. He deftly broke eggs and made omelets for them. He then quickly set the table and five minutes later, he was already sitting next to Marion for breakfast.

"Thank you for not letting me sleep carelessly last night," Marion said, pouring tea for them. "I need a good rest because from today I will be busy."

"It's my pleasure," Jean replied, holding the tea in his cup. "What will make you busy today?"

"Do you know that one of the assassins from Rhionen Assassins is being chased by Lauriel? He is coming here to Singapore. I have to watch out for him. Maybe he will contact Aleksis, so I should get ready once that happens."

"Assassin? Don't you think it's too dangerous? Why not wait for the other Wolf Pack members?" Jean asked, feeling a little worried. He did not know much about Rhionen Assassins, but from what he had heard so far, they were very dangerous.

The woman only waved her hand lightly. "We suspect Aleksis has a special relationship with the leader of Rhionen Assassins. Since I'm using her face in this mission, they will surely not hurt me."

"Hmm..." Jean remained uneasy. However, he could not do anything and was also in no position to say opinions. Wolf Pack certainly knew better what they were doing.

After having breakfast together, Marion hurriedly took a shower and prepared to disguise herself. At 9 am, she appeared in the living room of the penthouse looking exactly like Aleksis.

"I want to go to university and show myself. Uncle Jean, will you take me to the campus?" Marion asked the other with a pair of glazed puppy eyes. Jean just laughed at her and nodded. He took the car keys from the cupboard and pulled her hand toward the elevator to go down to the basement.

"I have nothing to do today. Maybe I'll visit my father at his home," He said when they got into the car. "I already planned to take a new identity next year, so I should start saying goodbye to my family."

"Your father still lives in Singapore?" Marion inquired.

"Yeah. He has a new family here. Our relationship is not very good, but maybe it's time to fix it before I leave forever from his life."

Jean almost never visited his father's family whenever he stopped by Singapore. After he had grown up and become independent, he preferred to live close to his mother, but when his mother died last year he sometimes thought of his father and wished they could make peace. Maybe now was the right time.

"Good luck," Marion cheered him up, even patting him on the shoulder. They chatted about trivial things along the way, but soon they arrived at the university premise and both were forced to say goodbye.

Jean drove his car to Bukit Timah area where his father's mansion was located, while Marion, who was disguised as Aleksis, soon found so many students staring at her in surprise as she stepped into campus.

"Gosh, you're still alive ?? Where have you been for almost two months?" asked a young man who ran to her when he saw 'Aleksis' from a distance.

"Oh, hi, Ian ... My family had me treated in Switzerland because the accident left me in a coma for several weeks. Now I'm fine," Marion replied lightly. She knew the young man's name since Terry had discussed everyone mostly around Aleksis whenever she was on campus. She still remembered their names.

"Oh, thank God ... we heard that you died," Ian awkwardly responded, shaking his head. "Oh, by the way, you don't have an appointment tonight, do you? I want to take you to Billie Yves' concert. All the tickets are sold out. You're lucky because I have a connection. I got the best tickets and even access to a meet and greet at the backstage. How about that?" Ian asked enthusiastically. "Let's just say it's our celebration for your recovery."

Marion was almost cursing as someone mentioned Billie Yves's name again. She didn't hate Billie, really, but she was still allergic to Jean's ex-girlfriend and disliked that the woman's name was constantly mentioned by those around her.

"Uhm ... no need, I also have connections actually. But, I'm not interested in watching the concert. Tonight I will be very busy," Marion perfunctorily replied.

Yep, tonight she would be very busy munching on sunflower seeds and drinking wine while Jean and Terry were enjoying themselves at Billie Yves' concert.

"Well ... that's too bad." Ian looked disappointed. He walked alongside Marion to class. Other students trailed behind them. Mel who saw that 'Aleksis' was fine, was very surprised and for a moment could not say anything. Not long after, she eventually cried and jumped to hug her.

"Aleksisss ... you're okay!!! I'm so happy ..." she sobbed.

Marion acted so well that she was able to convince everyone that she was really Aleksis. By lunchtime, news of 'her' return had spread throughout the campus and was even published in many posts in the St. Mary University's social media group on Splitz.

Lauriel, Nicolae and Petra who were following the developments on Splitz were very pleased to see that within a few hours, Aleksis's return was already a hot topic on St. Mary's social media.

They could not wait for Alaric or any of his men to approach Marion. Neo and Endo have flown to Singapore to back up the girl and they would be arriving this afternoon.