The Alchemists

Once Nicolae told Lauriel, Caspar, and Finland that Aleksis was willing to meet them, the three wasted no time and immediately headed to the young man's house to meet Aleksis.

"Aleksis!!!" As soon as the door was opened, Finland rushed to hug her daughter who had run away from home for two months. "I missed you so much ..."

She had noticed Aleksis' protruding belly, but Finland managed to calm herself down and did not mention it. She hugged Aleksis lovingly and stroked her daughter's hair.

"Mommy ..." Aleksis could only cry without tears on her mother's shoulder. Her tears have dried because she had been crying for the past two months.

Caspar and Lauriel who entered after Finland could only stand motionless. They quickly figured out that Aleksis was pregnant, and they didn't know what to do or how to act.

Nicolae just shook his head softly and signalled the two men not to say anything that would make Aleksis sad. Lauriel looked at his son deeply and sighed.

He knew how much Nicolae liked Aleksis, he had been protecting and shielding her all this while. Lauriel realized that Nicolae had fallen in love with the girl.

It was a pity Aleksis had married someone else and was now pregnant with his child ...

Finally, they let Aleksis and Finland cry until they couldn't cry anymore, then Caspar and Lauriel got their turn to hug Aleksis.

When Lauriel approached Aleksis to give her a hug, she was initially a little hesitant to return his hug ... There was anger still burning in her chest ...

But when she looked at Lauriel's grief-filled eyes, the anger in Aleksis's heart was swept away by a very cold wind and she finally hugged Lauriel back.

Yes ... she could now admit that all of this was her own fault ... She shouldn't have put all the blame on Lauriel. Lauriel was her godfather who loved her so much, and she was sure that all his decisions were made to ensure her happiness ...

Eighteen years ago when Aleksis was poisoned by bad-hearted people, Lauriel was even willing to die to neutralize the poison.

During the 20 years of her life, Aleksis had been receiving Lauriel's abundant affection and he had never stopped spoiling her. Of course Aleksis' sadness was his sadness too ... so Lauriel was probably in as much grief as she was.

Aleksis could not look at his blue and green eyes that were covered with sadness ...

Suddenly Aleksis was afraid that Lauriel would lose his desire to live and decide to take Death.

She hugged Lauriel even tighter.

"Forgive me for leaving, Uncle Rory ... I just needed time to calm down ..." Aleksis kissed Lauriel's cheeks and wiped the tears that began to wet her godfather's eyes. She realized how Lauriel was also devastated by everything that had happened. "Please forgive me ..."

Lauriel just nodded; he was speechless. Everyone was then quiet, occupied with their own thoughts.

Nicolae, who was full of understanding, made hot drinks for everyone and they sat together while enjoying tea. Slowly, conversations started to surface and the ice started to break.

"We have news from Rhionen Industries ..."

The five were surprised that the TV had turned on suddenly and mentioned Rhionen Industries.

Nicolae had set a notification system so that the TV would turn on automatically when there was news about several topics that he was researching, and he had forgotten to turn it off. For the past few years, he had been investigating Rhionen Industries and had arranged for all of his TVs and computers to provide him with the news whenever it came up.

He even moved to Singapore and disguised himself as a student so he could enter the new Rhionen Industries office. During the past two months, after he returned to Bucharest, there had been no news about them so Nicolae forgot that he had installed this automatic settings.

Now, out of the blue, at such an imprecise time, the TV turned on and delivered news about Rhionen Industries, in front of his father and Aleksis.

Nicolae hurriedly looked for the remote to turn off the TV, but Aleksis held her hand and stopped him. The girl's eyes were fixed on the TV screen on the wall and her tears started flowing again as she saw the familiar faces on the screen.

"Rhionen Industries finally announced that the four children of Mr. Alaric Rhionen will replace him and take over the company group after a single accident that resulted in his death two months ago. All heirs to one of the largest corporate groups in Europe will lead a different division and they will reside in four branch companies, namely in Romania, in China, Singapore, and in the UK. Mischa Rhionen, Takeshi Rhionen, Kai Rhionen, and Rosalien Rhionen Mr. Rhionen's children who had been living in low profile and only appeared to the public this week. The public is very interested in this family because the Rhionen family is known for their privacy and never appeared in public. Many people are surprised by the news, because they never knew who the Rhionen Industries owners are, until the death of the patriarch."

Lauriel was surprised to see the four familiar faces. Apparently the four assassins were Alaric Rhionen's children and now they were taking over the company.

"I didn't know Alaric Rhionen had children," Caspar said subconsciously. He had heard long heard about Rhionen Industries but even he did not know much about the man who owned it, until finally they fought over Aleksis.

"They are his foster children," Aleksis answered without taking his eyes off the screen. "He loved them very much. I know Mischa and Takeshi, but I have never met the other two."

"Oh ... foster children," Caspar nodded, "No wonder they don't look alike."

Caspar wanted to say that Alaric Rhionen was probably a playboy because his children were of different nationalities, and so he had wives of different races. Aleksis' explanation made him a little relieved.

"Yes, he was a very good person, he adopted the children from broken families and raised them as his own ..." Aleksis said while biting her lip. She was very sad because Alaric would not be able to see and care for his biological children in her womb. The thought made her chest feel very tight. "I'm pregnant with Alaric's biological children."

Finland hugged her daughter again and wiped Aleksis' tears that almost fell, "It's okay, Sweetheart. Mama is here ... we will take care and raise your child together ..."

"Children?" Caspar asked in puzzlement. He looked at Nicolae in surprise.

"Uhm ... Aleksis is carrying twins," Nicolae said quietly.

"Oh ..." Caspar and Lauriel exchanged glances. Their faces looked very happy. This was shocking news, but they were very happy to learn that Aleksis was pregnant. This meant that they would soon become grandfathers!

"My family has no history of twins," Caspar whispered. "I don't think anyone in Finland's family had twins either ..."

"My two deceased siblings were twins," Lauriel replied, "But I'm only Aleksis' godfather, we are not blood related."

They could only stare at the TV and assumed that Aleksis was carrying twin babies because her husband had twin genes in his family.

Caspar and Lauriel sighed at the whole situation.

When everyone was not paying attention, Nicolae quietly turned off the TV and immediately canceled all notifications.

This should not happen again, he thought.

"All right ... then ... let's go home now, Honey. Let Mummy help take care of you so that you stay healthy and your pregnancy can go smoothly. I want my grandchildren to be born healthy and happy," Finland coaxed Aleksis.

She never imagined that she would become a grandmother at the tender age of 45. Seeing Aleksis in such condition, her heart felt devastated. But for the sake of her daughter, she tried to hide her sadness and remain calm. Aleksis was already depressed enough after losing Alaric, she thought.

Finally Aleksis nodded slowly. Finland immediately hugged her and wasted no time in helping her daughter stand and get ready to go home.

"Thank you for everything, Nic ..." Aleksis hugged Nicolae before she followed her mother out of Nicolae's apartment. "Sorry, I am always troubling you."

"You NEVER once trouble me," Nicolae replied, "I'll come and visit you in a few days. You'll be fine at home..."

"Take it easy, she will be fine, I'm a doctor. I'll make sure Aleksis stay healthy," Caspar said quickly. He patted Nicolae on the shoulder and followed his wife and daughter out while ordering his staff to bring Aleksis' belongings.

Lauriel, who came out last hugged Nicolae and looked at him for a long time, before he finally left. He missed his child, but now it was more important for him to accompany Aleksis because she was in a very fragile state.

Nicolae understood the meaning behind his father's gaze. He knew that Lauriel was sympathetic to him for the fact that the girl he loved was married to someone else and would soon give birth to his children.

After they had left, Nicolae closed the door and sat on his couch with a listless body. He had been feeling immense sadness these past two months but never showed it in front of Aleksis. He did not want her to be burdened by his sadness, so in front of everyone Nicolae acted as if there was nothing wrong.

He subconsciously buried his face in his hands. He had promised to visit Aleksis, but for a fact Nicolae knew that he would never be able to meet Aleksis again.