The Alchemists

Marie still didn't budge. She narrowed her eyes and looked at Nicolae intently. "Who are you to order me around?"

Nicolae sighed and shook his head. He already knew that Marie was drunk now, and this was a sure sign that they had to go home. He raised his hand to sign the waiter that they had finished drinking and now wanted their bill.

Quickly, the waiter came to bring their bill. Nicolae paid in cash and left a few hundred dollars as a tip. He only nodded when the waiter thanked him and bowed many times for being given such a big tip.

"Can you walk?" Nicolae asked Marie.

"I don't want to go home ..." the girl w.h.i.n.ed.

"It's time to go home. It's very late now, and you drank too much," Nicolae said. Marie insisted on latching on her seat.

"I don't want to go home ..."

"You must go home," Nicolae, whose well of patience was as deep as the ocean, was still trying to coax Marie.

"Why should I listen to you?" Marie looked away angrily. "Who are you to ask me to come with you ...?!"

Finally, Nicolae crouched down and touched Marie's knees. His voice sounded very serious when he said, "I'm your husband. You have to come home with me. Do you want to be a disobedient wife who won't listen to your husband's words?"

Marie's small eyes went round. A look of surprise filled the girl's face followed by a muffled cry from her lips, "When did I marry you??"

The girl's voice sounded really confused.

"We got married yesterday morning. You don't remember?" Nicolae asked, patting Marie's knee softly. "You're too much, how could you forget our wedding..."

Marie's facial expression seemed even more confused.

"No way. I'm still too young for that. How could I get married to anyone? I'm still 22 years old." Marie was still trying to argue.

Nicolae smiled broadly while he ruffled her hair.

"You don't believe me?" asked the young man. "Look at your ring finger."

Hesitantly, Marie looked at her ring finger, then immediately pressed her lips while holding back a cry of surprise.

"Gosh, what ring is this?" asked the girl in surprise.

"It's a wedding ring," Nicolae said with a chuckle. "Now, do you believe me? You are drunk now, so you don't remember, but tomorrow morning you will definitely remember again."

"We got married yesterday?" Marie hurriedly took her cellphone out of her pocket and surveyed the photo gallery. "If we are married, why isn't there a picture of the wedding?"

In her phone gallery, there were absolutely no wedding photos. The girl shook her head and looked at Nicolae in puzzlement.

Nicolae wouldn't explain. He had deliberately requested that there should be no photos when he and Marie were married because he did not want anyone to keep his tracks. As an Alchemist who was used to changing identities every few decades, he never let an ordinary person keep a photo that would leave a record of him.

Just like Caspar and Alaric who always deleted their photos from the internet, Nicolae also used to refuse being photographed and keep his face from appearing out there.

Before the wedding, he had asked Marie that they must not be photographed on the grounds that their marriage was only a fake one. That's why Marie couldn't find any photos in her cellphone gallery now.

"I can't believe it ..." Marie was about to protest again, but then she yawned and her body wobbled over Nicolae who was still sitting before her, holding her knee. Apparently, the girl was very sleepy.

Finally, Nicolae decided to carry Marie out of the Sky Bar. Marie was nodding off in his arms, and naturally, she wrapped her arms around the young man's neck.

"Hmm ... let's go home now ..." Nicolae said firmly.

Nicolae took Marie out of the Sky Bar to the parking lot. After making sure Marie sat well in his car, he then drove back to their apartment on Robertson Road.

After arriving at the apartment building, Nicolae carried Marie into the elevator to her apartment on the 10th floor.

Hearing the elevator sound, Marie, who had almost fallen asleep in Nicolae's arms, opened her eyes and slid her head into the young man's c.h.e.s.t while hugging his neck tighter.

"You smell great ..." the girl commented, sniffing Nicolae's shirt.

"You're awake?" Nicolae asked with a smile. The elevator door opened, and he took Marie out to her unit. Marie just nodded while smiling back. Her face had now turned brighter.

After the apartment door opened, Nicolae entered and placed Marie on the living room couch. When he was about to leave the girl, Marie suddenly pulled his hand.

"I forgot ... Have you been here before? Did I introduce my family members to you?" asked the girl, smiling broadly. She got up from the sofa and pulled Nicolae's hand around the apartment unit. She enthusiastically introduced Nicolae to her 'family members'. "This is Lilith, the washing machine I told you about. Now ... this is my favorite chair. His name is Edgar. My loyal Roomba robot, his name is Thomas. Here is my favorite computer, Petra ... Oh by the way... Did I introduce that potted plant by the window? She is Emma."

Nicolae could only be stunned, seeing Marie's antics and let himself be dragged here and there by the girl. This girl was very funny when she's drunk, Nicolae thought in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Thomas ...! Come here, you. Meet my husband," Marie pulled Nicolae's hand and introduced him to vacuum cleaner robot. "Yep.. he is my husband. Look, he's very handsome, right? I know I'm very lucky ... Haha..."

Nicolae could not help but smile again. He just nodded toward Thomas. He didn't expect Marie to be this funny when she was drunk.

"All right ... now that I've met all your family members ... it's time for me to go home," Nicolae said later.

Marie frowned in surprise. "Go home? Isn't this your home? Where are you going if you're not with me?"

"Eh ..." Nicolae suddenly became uncomfortable.

Marie pulled the man closer and then hugged Nicolae very tightly. Her voice trembled as she whispered. "Please... please, don't leave me ... I don't have anyone else in this world ..."

Nicolae just stood rooted to the spot. With Marie in his arms, he could smell the girl's natural scent, which made his mind drift back to Aleksis. Both girls had similar body scents, he thought.

"Marie ... we just ..."

The girl did not want to listen to Nicolae's words, she raised her face and looked at Nicolae right in his deep blue eyes. At the sight of those lonely brown eyes, Nicolae was suddenly filled with compassion.

Marie's eyes looked very sad. The man didn't have the heart to leave her in such a condition. The girl's red lips that were slightly opened stirred Nicolae's heart as it beat faster and faster.

He was, after all, a normal man, being hugged by a stunning girl. This girl was fragile and begging for his protection, a damsel in distress that awaken his chivalrous side.

"My husband ..." Marie whispered as she closed her eyes and kissed Nicolae's lips wholeheartedly. The girl's sultry voice sounded so s.e.xy in Nicolae's ear. He involuntarily welcomed the red lips that had been tempting his self-control for days.