The Alchemists

Nicolae was not ashamed when he cried in Marie's apartment. The building manager was very sorry to see him and finally decided to leave the young man himself. Nicolae stayed in Marie's room and pondered for a long time.

He did not know what to do now. It felt like his life had become completely empty. So much hope that filled his heart a day ago, today turned into deep sorrow.

For some reason ... it seemed now he understood how his father felt a hundred years ago when he learned of Luna's death, together with the child in her w.o.m.b.

Was this really my destiny ...? To never be happy?

He had never felt a heartbreak so severe like this ... In fact, this could not be compared to what he felt when Aleksis was married to Alaric. He had shed so much tears at the cemetery, that he thought he couldn't cry anymore.

As it turned out, he was wrong. In Marie's apartment, he felt so broken and cried ceaselessly. After all his tears were dry, Nicolae sat quietly for the night, unable to do anything.

Some incoming SMS and phone calls came from Terry, but he just ignored them. He did not want to talk to anyone. He was despondent and had no d.e.s.i.r.e to do anything.

In a blink of an eye, two days passed.

"Nic ..."

Nicolae did not eat nor drink for two days. He only sat pondering in a chair named Edgar that Marie often used for work. His eyes stared blankly out the window. Alaric's voice that called his name gently was unable to move him.

His brother walked slowly to him and then hugged him.

"We already know what happened ..." Alaric said quietly.

At first, Terry thought Nicolae didn't want to reply to his texts and calls because he was having fun with Marie and didn't want to be disturbed, but after 24 hours, they realized something bad must have happened to Nicolae that he didn't reply to any of their texts.

Alaric called Takeshi, who immediately checked Nicolae's situation and found out what had happened to the girl named Marie Lu. The news that Takeshi delivered greatly shook everyone who was enjoying their holiday on F Island.

Alaric and Lauriel immediately flew back to Singapore to meet Nicolae. They understood how bad Nicolae's situation was and wanted to immediately console him. Alaric decided to go in first and meet Nicolae while his father waited outside, so Nicolae would not feel overwhelmed by them.

"Nic ..." Alaric called again.

Nicolae, who was in his arms, was completely silent. The young man had run out of tears, and his heart was filled with such a painful void. He did not respond to Alaric at all.

"Father ..." Alaric finally called out to Lauriel, who rushed in. "It's very bad ..."

They understood what made Nicolae so devastated. He lost two people at once: the woman he loved and the child in her w.o.m.b. And that terrible event happened only a few days ago when Nicolae was actually very close ...

Lauriel crouched down and hugged his eldest son's knees and looked into Nicolae's blank eyes. He felt so sad to see Nicolae in such conditions. Nicolae took after Luna's warm and cheerful personality. The young man was not a cold and sad person like himself and Alaric. So, seeing him turn out like this felt very suffocating.

"My son..." Lauriel said hoarsely. "You have to eat and rest. Otherwise, you can get sick."

An alchemist had a perfect body, and normally, they wouldn't get sick, but if they didn't eat and drink and didn't rest, they would die of hunger and fatigue.

Lauriel had checked his son's pulse and found that Nicolae's condition was very weak.

"Father ..." Nicolae suddenly opened his eyes and looked at his father with a pair of hopeless eyes. "Is this how it feels ...?"

Lauriel understood the meaning of Nicolae's question. He nodded. "Yes."

Lauriel's answer made Nicolae even sadder. He paused for a long time and said nothing more. Alaric tightened his embrace on his brother. Now, his years of suffering and sadness when he was separated from Aleksis felt meaningless. At least, when he thought Aleksis died, he didn't know that his wife was pregnant.

"It's my fault ..." Nicolae finally said. He then turned to Alaric and shook his head. "I should have come and seen her right away ..."

Alaric shook his head softly. "This isn't your fault, Nic. You don't know. This is fate."

Nicolae disagreed with his brother. This must be his fault.

From the beginning, he had known how Marie felt for him. He knew that the girl liked him ... No, she actually had fallen in love with him. When they got into the fake marriage and then slept together ... He could feel that Marie loved him.

But he got rid of his own feelings for her because he was still focused on healing his broken heart and wanted to start a new life by forgetting Aleksis and avoid being in a relationship with another girl.

Now .. because of his stupidity.. for taking such a long time to think ... he actually lost the woman he loved and their child.

Why did he tell Marie to annul their marriage?

He could imagine how sad Marie felt when she found out that she was pregnant and reluctantly decided to annul their marriage at the last moment because she did not want to be in a one-sided marriage. He imagined how many times Marie had tried to contact him but couldn't because Nicolae had cut off contact and changed his identity ...

"It's my fault ..." Finally, his tears that had dried up slowly dripped down to his cheeks. Nicolae cried again in Alaric's arms. His brother and father let him pour his heart out until he could finally calm down.

Lauriel gently told him to take a potion to restore his strength and eat, but Nicolae still refused. With a heavy heart, Alaric finally sent Terry to bring Altair and Vega to persuade their Nicolae. At first, he did not want his children to see Nicolae like that, but he felt he had no choice anymore.

Two hours later, Vega's hysterical voice in Marie's living room shocked Nicolae from his thoughts. He looked up and saw his daughter running toward him while crying.

"Daddy... Daddy, don't die ..." Vega hugged Nicolae with wet eyes and sobbed on his shirt. "I will be very sad if you left... Please, don't do this to us..."

Nicolae was stunned to hear Vega's words. Altair, who followed Vega with, now arrived in front of him and joined in hugging Nicolae.

"Daddy... don't forget us just because you love someone else ...You must never do that ..." said Altair sadly. "Daddy, you promised ..."

Altair and Vega, who really loved Nicolae, just wanted to see the man happy. They even tried hard to find him a girlfriend so that the man would not be lonely and sad because he kept remembering their mother.

But they had made him promise that if someday Nicolae fell in love ... he would not forget Altair and Vega whom he had considered as his own children.

He had promised that his love for the two children would not change even though one day he would fall in love with another woman and have a child with her. Altair and Vega were still his children, and his love for them would never change ...

It was this promise ... that Altair was now claiming from him.