The Alchemists

They kissed and c.a.r.e.s.sed each other's hair and down to their backs. Nicolae never thought he would be attracted to a woman other than Aleksis. He had met countless women during his world wandering days, when he was trying to heal his broken heart, after he found out Aleksis was married to another man and was carrying his child.

So many women fell in love with him and tried to win his heart. However, Nicolae did not feel any emotional nor s.e.x.u.a.l attraction to any of them.

Maybe, Marie was a special girl. The man let his wall down, the moment her lips touched his.

When the kiss became more intense and passionate, Nicolae tried to back away and escape from Marie, but the girl suddenly shed tears and cried on his shoulder.

"Are you going to leave me too?" the girl whispered between her sobs. "This is the worst day of my life ..."

Nicolae was stunned to hear her cry. For some reason, those words pierced his heart. He finally stayed in his place and no longer tried to distance himself from Marie.

"Marie ... I don't want to see you sad, but I have to go. I don't want to take advantage of a fragile girl. Right now, you are too depressed and sad. You have drunk enough alcohol that your common sense is not working. If you did this, you would regret it tomorrow morning." Finally, Nicolae spoke, trying to get Marie to let him go.

"I won't regret it ..." Marie shook her head and looked up at Nicolae with adoration. "I want to be with you..."

Nicolae tried to guess whether Marie was being honest because she was drunk, or if she was just talking nonsense. They had only been together for four days if he had counted the days when Marie suddenly join him and the kids for a meal at the restaurant at that time.

So, there was no way Marie would harbor a crush for him, right? Or ...

The man took a deep breath. Marie was the right girl at the wrong time, his heart spoke again.

He would have been able to open his heart to this attractive girl if his wounds had fully recovered. Accepting Marie's feelings for him and sleeping with her tonight will only hurt this girl in the long run because she would only be his rebound. She didn't deserve to be anyone's rebound. That's why Nicolae must insist to leave her.

"Marie ... I can't be with you." Nicolae looked straight into those sad brown eyes. "I already told you, I can't be with any woman right now. I just got my heart broken and I still need time to heal myself. It's gonna take a really long time. I only helped you this week by pretending to marry you for your mother's sake. Nothing more..."

Marie returned Nicolae's gaze while pursing her lips. "You're a really kind man. You don't even want to take advantage of me when I offered myself to you. Why can't you like me? Am I ugly? Am not not good enough for you?"

The man shook his head. "No. You're so beautiful. You're also very attractive and fun. I just don't want to hurt you..."

"Please don't leave me alone tonight. My mother is dead ... Why does my husband also want to leave me? How could you do this to me...? On the worst day of my life..."

Nicolae was about to explain that their marriage was fake but he was not sure that Marie would understand under her current conditions.

Finally, he just shook his head slowly. "That's not what I meant ... I have to go, otherwise ... we might do things that we will regret tomorrow morning. I don't want to hurt you."

"You will hurt me if you leave me tonight ..." Marie was really too stubborn.

She hugged Nicolae tightly and buried her head in the man's c.h.e.s.t to hide her tears. Nicolae, who always had a soft spot for crying women, could only rub Marie's hair and wait for the girl's tears to dry.

"Well ... if you insist." After a while, Nicolae finally relented. "I will not go tonight, but I will not take advantage of a drunk girl. I will only stay with you tonight and make sure you are okay. Tomorrow, I will go back to my own apartment."

"Thank you, Dear husband ..." the girl whispered, smiling with relief. She then saw Nicolae's wet shirt, and immediately her face looked worried. "Gosh ... your shirt is all wet. You can't sleep in wet clothes, you will get sick ..."

The girl's hand moved quickly to unbutton Nicolae's shirt. The man, who suddenly flushed red, wanted to prevent Marie from stripping him from his shirt, but the girl quickly patted his hand as if he was a naughty boy being caught stealing candy.

"Hush ... don't argue with me. You can't sleep in wet clothes ..." Marie grumbled. She managed to unfasten the top two buttons but then had difficulty with the next ones because she was still not fully conscious due to drinking too much c.o.c.ktail. "Gosh ... why is it so hard to unfasten this button ..."

Seeing Marie grumbling and scolding his buttons with a cute expression, Nicolae could only shake his head. Finally, he intervened and helped the girl.

"Here, let me unfasten them... don't worry," said the young man, unbuttoning his shirt while Marie stared with amazement. Her eyes went round in adoration as if Nicolae unfastening the remaining buttons was as impressive as solving a very complicated Physics formula.

"Wowww! That's amazing!! How did you do that??" exclaimed Marie in amazement. She stormed Nicolae again and hugged him lovingly. "You're really so smart! You're kind and awesome."

She then helped Nicolae remove his shirt and mischievously groped the young man's broad shoulders and chiseled c.h.e.s.t while doing so. Her sultry voice was filled with admiration when Marie praised the sturdy and gorgeous body before her. "You have such a wonderful physique ..."

Nicolae could feel his ears turn red, and his c.h.e.s.t began to heat up. Which normal man didn't like being complimented by a beautiful woman?