The Alchemists

While walking to Aleksis' room, he listened to his father's explanation through the telephone. Nicolae could only nod and sigh repeatedly as the sequence of events was just quite unbelievable.

"Then, where is Marion now?" he asked attentively.

"We tried to treat her but she refused to meet anyone after that," Lauriel answered. He took a deep breath and then continued, "I feel like she got traumatized. She didn't want to see me at all and only asked to be taken back to her home in Switzerland immediately. Jean will accompany her. Maybe once they arrive, you can visit Marion and check on her."

"Alright, Father." Nicolae turned his body and when he saw Aleksis who was lying on the bed was currently looking at his direction, their eyes met. Due to shock, Nicolae accidentally dropped his cellphone on the ground. Subconsciously he ran toward Aleksis. "You ... you have awakened??"

He ignored his father calling out through the telephone. His attention was solely directed at the sleeping princess who had finally woken up from her long slumber.

"Mmm ... where am I?" Aleksis asked softly. She tried to get up and sit but she could barely move. Nicolae eagerly but cautiously helped the girl sit on her bed.

"You're home, in Switzerland. I'm here to look after you." Nicolae was smiling at the girl but tears were also in his eyes. He didn't think Aleksis would wake up so fast. It was a welcomed surprise. "You were in a coma for almost two months due to an accident on campus. Thankfully, your body is recovering at an incredible speed."

"Oh ..." Aleksis frowned, trying to remember what happened.

Two months ...? Quite a long while had passed ...

Did ... did Alaric look for her? How was his condition? Where was he now? She immediately panicked.

"My phone ... where is my phone?" Aleksis asked with urgency in her tone. She was referring to the one given to her by Takeshi. She MUST immediately contact Alaric!

"Uhm ... your phone is gone. Do you need it? You can use my phone for now." Nicolae hurriedly picked up his phone from the floor and handed it to Aleksis.

"No, not this one. I need MY phone." Aleksis almost cried. She felt hopeless. Her husband received no news from her for two months. Alaric must be very worried by now.

Nicolae felt sorry seeing her current state and then hurriedly got up, "Uhm ... wait a moment, I will get your new phone-watch for you. It's in your father's study. I've replaced the defective chip."

The girl was stunned. Apparently, Nicolae kept his promise and fixed the important chip. She felt very touched.

The young man returned 15 minutes later with a new phone-watch that was very similar to Aleksis' missing device.

"Here, do you want to make a call? I'll give you privacy," he said as he handed the item. When she nodded, he hurriedly left the room.

Aleksis stared at the Nicolae's back, her eyes sending him out with a grateful look put on her face. She hugged her device close to her chest and then quickly wiped her tears away.

She felt very relieved, the chip was on her phone which meant she could contact Alaric. With trembling hands, she dialed one by one the numbers which would connect her to him. She had those memorized by heart.

RING

RING

Ten rings.

There was no answer.

Aleksis called over and over. Still, no one picked up.

Was Alaric not using that number anymore? Was the chip not working? What exactly was going on??? Who else could she contact to find him??

Out of frustration Aleksis slammed her phone-watch on the floor and burst into tears. Nicolae who heard her crying immediately returned to her room and sat on the edge of her bed.

"Ssshh ... who do you want to contact? Can I help you?" he questioned in a soft voice.

Aleksis bit her lip. She did not know whether to honestly answer Nicolae.

In the end, she could only shake her head. She could not tell anyone about Alaric. She had no idea of their current attitude towards Alaric. She must not endanger her husband.

Nicolae took a deep breath and seriously stared into the stubborn girl's eyes.

"Is the person you want to contact Alaric Rhionen?" he asked again, this time bluntly.

Aleksis looked at him with a surprised face put on. "How ... how did you know?"

Nicolae could not look straight at her face. "I'm truly sorry."

His voice that sounded remorseful made Aleksis immediately understand that something bad had happened. Her body which was still weak could not bear the heavy stress, and thus she fell unconscious again.

Nicolae hurriedly fixed Aleksis' body and laid her comfortably in the bed. He knew that the intelligent girl now had a hunch that something untoward befell Alaric. The news had simply hit her hard.

He promptly called his father and reported what just took place. Lauriel, who was very happy to know that his goddaughter had awakened, impatiently got ready to fly to Switzerland. He also informed the girl's parents that their daughter had regained consciousness.

To make sure that Aleksis' body was fine, Nicolae checked her heartbeat using a stethoscope. This was so that if something was wrong, he would immediately be able to implement appropriate medical treatment.

"Eh ... what is this?" he frowned and tried to listen one more time. He wanted to make sure that he made no mistake.

Was the device broken?

Eventually, he threw his stethoscope away and took out a Doppler to make sure he didn't mishear.

Not long after, his face turned pale. There was indeed more than one heart beating.

While he was checking Aleksis' heartbeat with the stethoscope, he seemed to have heard of a strange beat besides the girl's heartbeat. He thought that he heard wrong many times, because ... this should not be possible, right?

However, after checking for a few more times, apart from hearing that the girl's heartbeats which had become quite regular, there was another heartbeat that was very weak but still audibly echoing in between the thumping of the girl's heart.

Doppler just confirmed it. Aleksis was indeed pregnant!

Nicolae felt devastated. He did not expect Aleksis to be with child at this moment. With raging thoughts, he listened to the heartbeats again as he realized that, as a doctor, he could not be selfish. Aleksis' health and safety were more important than his personal feelings.

It didn't take long for Nicolae to freeze in place again as he listened carefully to Aleksis' heartbeat and her baby using a doppler.

Apparently, he had truly misheard.

There were not two heartbeats, but three.