The Alchemists

"So?" Alaric would ask every morning as they have breakfast, and each time Aleksis would answer by shaking her head. It would always be followed by her husband's disappointed sigh. "Why don't you want to check it?"

"Jeez, you ... it's only been two weeks," Aleksis said after the third day.

Alaric scowled and she could no longer bear to look at his expression, so she burst out laughing.

"It's been almost 3 weeks, huh," Alaric said in a protesting tone. "We met again on October 2, on your birthday, and that night we made love until morning, don't you remember? You got pregnant with Altair and Vega on the first try."

Aleksis pressed her lips together while laughing, "How did you know that it was from the first try? For almost a week, we did 'that' every day ..."

"I just know ..." The man replied, stubbornly.

She rolled her eyes and smiled. However, she knew that Alaric was right. When they first made love, she was secretly hoping to have his child. That was why she did not prevent Alaric from releasing his seeds inside her. At that time, she had a hunch that if she fell pregnant, it would help her force her family to accept the man she loved.

Ten years later, all of her dreams came true. They reunited as husband and wife with the blessings of their two families and even had two lovely children.

From now on, their lives together would only be filled with happiness and love.

"Honey, the best time to find out about pregnancy is one week after I am supposed to have my period, so the results can be more accurate," Aleksis said. "I don't like to check every day like a fool. It's better to be patient and wait."

"So have you missed your period?" Alaric asked in a probing tone.

She nodded, "Yes, but it's only been a few days. I want to wait for a week."

"All right ... I'll learn to be patient," Alaric finally said. He finished his breakfast and then prepared to leave for the office. "I've been on leave from my job for almost three weeks. It's time to go back to the office and take care of various things. Tonight, there will be a big party as a celebration for Virconnect's fourth anniversary."

"Ah ... it must be fun. The event is held in the St. Laurent Hotel's ballroom, right?" Aleksis asked as she stood up. Two robot servants immediately cleared the dining table. "Isn't it better for me to wait for you there? If I go to your office, I'm afraid I'd distract you from work."

"You never disturb me," he said. "Come on ... you can accompany me in the office all morning, then you can go to St. Laurent after we have lunch. I will have to attend many meetings in the office starting at noon."

In the end, Aleksis relented. She wore a casual summer dress, which looked beautiful as it wrapped around her beautiful body. She wasn't wearing any makeup at all. Alaric was always amazed seeing that Aleksis had a very high resistance to cold and did not feel the need to wear an autumn coat even though the temperature outside had dropped to ten degrees Celsius.

They walked hand in hand towards the car and departed along with two android guards that were tasked with ensuring their safety.

At RMI Tower, their appearance instantly garnered attention and rumors. Alaric never came to the office with a woman, except for those few times with his cousin Sophia, who had now resigned.

Even more surprising was that Alaric casually walked in without ever releasing his grip on her hand. Their gestures seemed very intimate.

They must have a special relationship, the people around eventually concluded.

Even though none of their employees dared to stare at them for a long time or asked about Aleksis, news about them soon spread throughout the building like a forest fire.

Aleksis make herself comfortable in Alaric's room by sitting casually and reading a book. Before lunch, she even managed to check on her children in Grosseto by using Virconnect 4D, all while Alaric was taking care of the things that required his attention.

They then had lunch together in his room. Only then did he order a trusted staff to take Aleksis to the St. Laurent Hotel.

"I also invited Rune and London to the event tonight. They should arrive this afternoon. You can meet and chat with them," he said before taking Aleksis away.

"Ah, how nice of you! I will contact them." Aleksis kissed Alaric and then left his room, "I'll go first. See you tonight."

The woman left her husband's office and used the elevator to reach the lobby on the ground floor, all while following the staff assigned to escort her. As soon as the elevator door opened, she almost collided with a beautiful girl hurrying to get into the elevator without waiting for those inside to come out first.

"Hey! Use your eyes, please!" the girl snapped at Aleksis. She looked upset and in a rush so when she saw Aleksis, whom she considered slow in coming out of the elevator, she became angry.

"Hmm ... you should wait for the people to get out first, then enter," Aleksis said, shaking her head. "Why are you so impatient?"

The girl narrowed her eyes at the other woman sharply. "Do you know who I am?"

Aleksis turned to the staff behind her, "Do you know who she is?"

The staff hurriedly bowed and whispered. "She's Elien Mikhailova, one of the ambassadors of our Virconnect products since three years ago, madam."

"Oh ..." Aleksis looked at Elien and wondered why Splitz wanted a woman so arrogant like her to represent them.

"So now, do you know who I am? If so, move aside," said the female ambassador coldly.

Aleksis just smiled and shook her head. She didn't even care about Elien and continued walking out. For her, Elien was just one of the so many women in the world who always treated themselves like its center.

She knew she could never be friends with petty women like her who were regarding her as an enemy, and she had actually given up. Now she no longer had intentions of making friends with people like them or acting kindly to them.

Elien was very upset and worried. She heard from her informant within RMI that Elios Linden brought a woman into his office today so she became very restless.

In the past four years, she had always been rumored to be the candidate for Mrs. Linden because Eli had never had a girlfriend and she was frequently present at various events involving RMI and Splitz.

As Virconnect's ambassador, she had become very famous and was always associated with the owner of the RMI Group. Now she felt that her position was suddenly threatened because a strange foreign woman entered Eli's life.

She had to know what happened and who the other woman really was. If she could, she would get rid of her, like how she had gotten rid of many models and celebrities who had tried to steal Elios Linden from her.

***