The Alchemists

"Sorry, only one adult horse can be used today. The others are still in the meadow," Nicolae said. He stretched out his hand and helped Aleksis to get on the back of the horse.

"It is okay." Aleksis swiftly jumped up. A moment later, she was sitting elegantly in front of Nicolae. "You hold the picnic basket, let me handle the horse."

"Hmm ..." Nicolae only hummed. He held the picnic basket in his right hand while his left hand handed the rein to Aleksis. Then he waved to the children before heading towards the Butterfly Hill.

"You are very good at riding a horse," complimented Nicolae along the way.

"Ahaha ... thank you. Uncle Rory taught me."

They did not say much after. Aleksis realized it had been a long time since she had gone horseback riding. It had also been a while since she had fun without her two children.

Subconsciously, she expanded her chest and took a deep breath. The air on this hill was still fresh. Something rarely found nowadays.

Nicolae took a deep breath too, following Aleksis. A fascinating feeling arose from his chest when it dawned on him that their bodies were so close. Right now, he could even smell Aleksis' natural scent which was similar to refreshing citrus.

He had started liking Aleksis' scent since the first time she hugged him on campus. That time, she thought he was Prince Siegfried.

They arrived at the top of Butterfly Hill after an hour of pleasant riding. Nicolae kept his body from touching Aleksis who was sitting casually in front of him and controlling their horse. He did not want her to think he was trying to take advantage of her.

Of course, he wanted to hug her body from behind and enjoy her scent more closely. However, he couldn't do that lest it gives her a bad impression. 

"The kids are right, this place is beautiful," Aleksis commented after they arrived. She deftly jumped off the horse and raised her hand to help Nicolae get down.

"Uhm ... I can go down by myself," Nicolae said while laughing.

"I mean, give me the basket, so you can get down more easily," Aleksis pursed her lips. "Do you think you're still a child so I have to help you down?! Gosh."

"Oh ... okay. Sorry, I misunderstood you. I've been too full of myself... hahaha .." Nicolae answered lightly. He was not offended at all. He handed their picnic basket to Aleksis then jumped down from the horse. He then casually led the horse under the shade of an olive tree, then tied the saddle to one of its branches.

Aleksis spread their picnic blanket under the shades and arranged their food and drinks neatly.

"Thank you for taking me on this nice trip," Aleksis said as she sat relaxed on the blanket. Her eyes swept around, taking in the beautiful valley below them. "This is very fun."

"Of course," Nicolae nodded while taking a seat next to Aleksis. He pulled out a small knife and began cutting apples. From time to time he would be giving slices of the fruit to her.

Time passed like that. For a moment they sat just there, enjoying the apples without saying anything.

"How have you been?" Nicolae asked after finishing one of the apples. He did not look at Aleksis. Instead, he kept his eyes on the valley.

"You have no idea?" Aleksis asked in amazement. "I thought you were regularly asking Uncle Rory or Terry about how I was doing. Yesterday, I was very surprised. You actually didn't know my twins are a pair of boy and girl."

Nicolae shook his head softly, "Uhm ... no, I deliberately didn't ask anyone about you. I'm sorry, it's not that I don't care about your situation, I just know you're in good hands. I didn't hear anything about you for the whole duration that I was away... "

"Why?" asked Aleksis. She could guess the answer, but she still wanted to hear it directly from Nicolae's own lips. "You were my only friend at that time. I trusted you, and we were very close. You helped me a lot when I ran away from home ... Imagine how sad I was because you just left like that."

She bit her lip, remembering the suffocating experience from 5 and a half years ago when she returned to her parents' house, and Nicolae then went away and disappeared for years.

"I'm sorry," Nicolae finally turned to face her with a look of regret. "I'm not that strong."

"Hmm ..." Aleksis nodded. "Okay, I understand."

"You don't understand, Aleksis ..." Nicolae sighed deeply. His voice turned hoarse. "I liked you from the first time I saw you. At that time, you were a shabby looking nerd girl. I didn't know you were very rich, and even an immortal like me. It all just became a very pleasant bonus."

Aleksis knew Nicolae liked her, even loved her. Because he was truly like her father, Nicolae was expressive of his feelings. But this was the first time she heard him spoke this directly to her.

"I was confused when you thought I was Prince Siegfried ... and I was too late in finding out the truth. If I knew I looked like him, I would have definitely pretended I am him, I would claim that I am him." Nicolae smiled bitterly, "Then you would assume that Prince Siegfried was an immortal and you would accept me happily. It was like fate. Especially when I found out that my father ... turns out to be your godfather. Unfortunately, I was too late, you have found the real one and married him. "

"Nic ... please, don't say that. I was wrong because I thought you were him and had caused a misunderstanding between us." Aleksis took Nicolae's hand and gently patted its back, "I know you are not a liar. So, even if there was an opportunity, you would not fool me and claim to be Prince of Siegfried. After all, you know you're not. You're too kind."

Nicolae gave her a small smile. "I'm sorry that you have to face all the tragedies by yourself. I'm sorry that you lost the person you love, the father of your children."

Aleksis nodded and bit her lower lip, trying not to cry. "It's okay. It's been a long time."

"I now understand why at that time you mistook me for him. Alaric must have looked quite similar to me because as I can see, Altair and Vega do look like me. Their father must have quite a lot of physical similarities with me," he said again.

Aleksis looked studied Nicolae's face for a while. A few moments later, she nodded. "You're right ... The first time I met him was when I was 12 years old. He looked very similar to the current you. That's why I mistakenly thought you were him. But then, he actually got seriously injured in one of his assignments so his face became disfigured. He didn't want to show me his face. I don't know how he looks like after he got older. My children, too, would never know."