The Alchemists

Nicolae widened his eyes in surprise. His eyes blinked several times.

'Wait a minute. Are they the same person?' he thought to himself.

He recalled the five photos he had obtained from Altair this morning. If his memory served him right, this Louisa had very beautiful long hair. Her face was pretty cute and looked fashionable. And most importantly, her body was slim and s.e.xy. But...

The girl... uh, the woman in front of him was completely different from the five photos. This woman had short hair with a face far from beautiful and her clothes were a bit too small for her not-so-slim body.

She looked completely different from what Nicolae had imagined her to be. The man narrowed his eyes, trying to find a resemblance. Finally, he realized that the photos he received were probably taken about 10 years and 30 kg ago.

After the first and second blind dates that took place without any follow-up, he actually didn't expect much on this third blind date. But he didn't expect at all that for the first time, he would meet a woman who would enter a fake profile as his children did with his own profile the last time.

However, the difference was that in the profile created by his children, he was referred to as a 45-year-old man who looked old - while in truth, he looked like a very handsome 25-year-old man. Meanwhile, on Louisa's profile, she made herself seem like a 25-year-old beautiful girl who was, in fact, already in her 40s.

Nicolae sighed softly and tried to calm down.

'Well, this is no big deal,' he thought. He reached out to greet Louisa and introduced himself.

"Good evening, Louisa. We finally meet. Have you been waiting long?"

That girl... ah no... that woman, beaming, when she saw that Nicolae was very handsome and attractive in his expensive shoes and a fancy suit. She reached out and smiled at the man. Louisa's face seemed to be filled with vivid and genuine expressions of relief and happiness. She rose and greeted Nicolae by holding his hand tightly.

"No, I just arrived. Nice to meet you," she squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

As a gentleman, no matter what happened, Nicolae wouldn't embarrass Louisa, who tricked him by claiming to be a younger and more beautiful woman even though in reality, her true appearance was far from what was shown in her profile on the online dating site. Nicolae continued to be friendly and polite to her.

After each of them ordered a meal, they tried to talk about the weather and other trivial matters. Nicolae thought that even if Louisa wasn't physically attractive, he wouldn't mind spending time with that woman as long as they could have a pleasant talk during dinner.

Unfortunately, as people sai, 'Good luck seldom comes in pairs but bad things never walk alone', Nicolae's bad luck didn't seem to end there. Aside from Louisa's unattractive appearance, her voice hurt his ears whenever she talked. She sounded like a mouse that had been caught in a trap and was trying to escape. 

What was worse was that she didn't even have a pleasant personality. It was futile for Nicolae to look for topics to discuss. Louisa didn't understand what he was talking about.

Finally, the handsome man gave up and concentrated on his food. He only managed to get Louisa to talk a little about the weather, her work, and about global warming. He felt that the dinner seem reaaaalllyyy slow and long.

A starter came followed by an appetizer, then the main course, and the dessert, all with their respective wine pairings. Then finally, FINALLY... the very boring dinner ended. Nicolae almost breathed a sigh of relief.

"Since you told me you like watching movies after dinner, I've bought tickets for a movie for us to watch in the cinema. After dinner, we still have time to go there." Louisa promptly said, taking out two tickets from her bag.

Nicolae wasn't an actor who was good at acting like Terry. He could barely hide his shock and horror. Cold sweat poured heavily and he was constantly massaging his forehead. He really felt as though he was trapped in a blind date that seemed to never end.

Aaaaah, he forgot that Altair planned a dinner date followed a movie. He still had to stay with Louisa for two more hours!

'Watch out you, Kids,' Nicolae grumbled silently. 'This will be the last blind date that I will go to... ever.'

"Oh, is that so? I forgot that I told you how I like watching movies after dinner. All right, I'll join you." Nicolae answered in a polite voice.

Actually, watching a movie after dinner wasn't too bad because they didn't need to talk or make small talk at all until the movie was over. Nicolae was preoccupied with his own thoughts and how he would make his two children 'pay' for setting him up on this horrible date, so he no longer paid attention to his surroundings.

Well, if they had given their approval for Nicolae to stay at Louisa's place, then after dinner, Nicolae would make them think he really did.

'Just wait, Kids. You'll know that I, too, can play tricks on you,' he thought, irritated.

Because he was preoccupied with his own thoughts, Nicolae hadn't noticed at all that so many women at the tables around them were stealing glances at him and feeling sorry for him.

At first, when he passed by with his cool appearance, expensive suit, and his very handsome face, there were many guests who thought that he was a model or a businessman, or at least a student who came from the upper classes.

Numerous women really wanted to attract his attention. This man was really handsome, they thought admiringly. However, when they saw that he had come to sit down to eat with an ugly and fat middle-aged woman, they slowly began to think that this man was actually not what they had expected.

Think about it. Where would you see a young and very handsome man willing to have dinner with a fat and ugly old woman if not for money? Surely this man is a gigolo! those women thought in unison.

That's why now, the views of the women in the restaurant were divided into two. Some felt sorry for Nicolae because they thought he had an unfortunate life; still so young, yet he had to work hard to make a living as a gigolo.

Meanwhile, some other female guests actually felt happy when they thought that this handsome young man could be hired to become a paid escort (gigolo). Ahh... he's so handsome! They didn't mind paying whatever rate he would ask.

Some of the more daring women even called the restaurant waiters to slip in their telephone numbers to give to the handsome young man. They wanted to hire him!

After almost two hours, the dinner that began with a starter, an appetizer, a main course, a dessert was finally over, and so was half of Nicolae's nightmare. Now, all that remained was to endure the next two hours to watch a movie together and then go home.

After the boring dinner ended, the two of them then got up to continue their date to the cinema located in the mall next to the Continental Building. Nicolae was bored to death, but as a polite and kind man, he didn't change his attitude at all and continued to treat Louisa with respect and courtesy.

All the women who saw this looked jealous to see Louisa with a beaming face rising from her chair and walking while holding Nicolae's hand as they got out of the Moonshine Restaurant. 

Ugh... as Louisa's fat hand gripped Nicolae's arm, the young man frowned slightly, but he was forced to let her hold him.

He couldn't bear to get rid of Louisa's hand and embarrass her in front of many people. When he was almost at the door of the restaurant, a waiter, who had received a few telephone numbers, politely approached him and whispered softly in Nicolae's ear. His hands inserted several small pieces of paper into the young man's grasp.

"Ahem... Sir. There are a number of ladies from the upper classes who are very interested in your services. Please contact them."

"Eh?" Nicolae looked at the waiter with a baffled expression.

What services? Why did he have to contact them?