Nicolae woke up with a body that felt so fresh that he himself was astonished. When he opened his eyes, he immediately remembered that he had fought with two mysterious young men whom he thought were kidnappers, even though they apparently were acquainted to Aleksis. He was shot and he remembered bleeding quite a lot.

"Hey, are you awake?"

He immediately turned toward the sound and found Aleksis sitting on the window sill watching him. The girl looked very beautiful as she was bathed in sunlight that infiltrated through the curtains. For a moment Nicolae was speechless.

Aleksis finally had to wave to him.

"Er ... where am I?" Nicolae asked, holding his shoulder which was wrapped in bandages. He noticed that he was wearing clean clothes that were the right size for him.

"You're at my place ..." said Aleksis. "Do you still feel pain?"

Nicolae shook his head. He examined his body and was satisfied with the results of the treatment he received.

"Thank you for saving me ..." he said, smiling broadly. He didn't look like a gunshot victim at all. His attitude was still too carefree.

"I don't know who saved who," sighed Aleksis, "You thought you were saving me from the kidnappers, and my bodyguards thought they were saving me from you ... and now you said that I saved you ..."

"Yes, it's very funny," Nicolae said with a chuckle. He tried to get up but was immediately prevented by Aleksis, who approached him and sat on the edge of his bed.

"The doctor said, if the bullet had hit you a little lower, the bullet would hit your heart and you would have died instantly .. You're very lucky," said Aleksis while holding Nicolae's chest because he was about to get up. "Now don't take any risks before you are completely recovered."

The man looked at Aleksis and his mind immediately turned mischievous. He pretended to moan in pain when Aleksis' hand touched his chest.

"Oww .. ouch ... that hurts so much. You touched my wound ..." he complained with a painful voice.

Indeed, Aleksis' hand had touched the bandage that wrapped his wound, but not the wound itself.

After all, even if Aleksis had really touched his wound, Nicolae would not have felt enough pain to cry like that. His body was physically very strong. Aleksis confirmed the fact by complaining several times that his body was as hard as a brick wall. This injury was nothing to Nicolae.

But right now he felt that it was better to make use of his condition to get the attention of this beautiful girl, who had made him curious since last week.

"Jeez ... I'm sorry ... where does it hurt?" Aleksis asked quickly. She rubbed the part she had touched with a guilty face.

"Hmm ... that's it, right there. If you rub it like that it feels better ..." Nicolae said with a smile.

Aleksis narrowed her eyes and looked at Nicolae suspiciously. She did not know for sure whether this young man was in pain or just pretending. Nicolae then coughed a little, trying to distract her.

"Uhm ... I'm thirsty. Is there some water here?" he asked her.

Aleksis nodded. She got up from the bed and left the room. The girl returned five minutes later with a glass of water; she was accompanied by a young man and that surprised Nicolae.

The man was very handsome, and there was something about him that made people feel deep respect. He had rather long hair, a big, tall and sturdy body, and a pair of very bright blue-green eyes.

Who was this person? Why was Aleksis surrounded by such impressive people? Nicolae thought to himself.

This afternoon he found out that Terry was actually Aleksis' brother, and earlier, the two professionals who had fought with him also turned out to be acquainted with Aleksis ... if he was not mistaken, the girl called them her bodyguards ... and now there was this man.

"This is water for you," said Aleksis, as if unaware that Nicolae was staring at her and Lauriel with a look of surprise.

"Thank you," Nicolae accepted the glass and drank slowly. He tried to judge the new arrival and guess what his relationship with Aleksis was.

Hmm ... judging from the fact that they both had similar eyes, this man could be Aleksis' biological brother.

If so, Nicolae had to be nice to him, so that Aleksis' brother would not consider him a person with poor manners. He wanted to prove himself fit for Aleksis.

"Uhm ... thank you for lending me your clothes, the size is just right," Nicolae said to Lauriel, who was staring at him while standing at the door.

Nicolae now realized that he must be wearing the man's clothes since they had the same built, and immediately thanked him.

"Hmm," Lauriel just nodded, still not talking.

Inwardly, he was still very moved to see the young man in front of him. He always thought that his whole family was gone. But today, DNA proved that this young man was his relative, and most likely his son. Now he only needed to know who the Nicolae's mother was.

Lauriel must know Nicolae's exact age. So far, Lauriel had never slept with an ordinary woman, so this young man must be a pure Alchemist. In the past, he had only slept with a few women. If he could know Nicolae's age, he would be able to find out who had given birth to his child and why they hid this fact from him.

"Your gunshot wound was taken care of by the doctor, and the bullet has been removed. Your other wounds were treated by Uncle Rory. With his medicine, your wounds will be healed by tomorrow and they won't leave any scars," said Aleksis.

"That's not possible. I'm a doctor ... my wounds from fighting couldn't possibly heal in a day, and they WILL leave scars ..." Nicolae said. A moment later he fell silent. It was too late to rectify what he had just said, which came out because he was too excited.

"So, you're a doctor?" Aleksis asked, smiling faintly. "You're not just a final year student in Information Management, are you?"

Nicolae frowned; he was surprised to see Aleksis looking so calm. There was not the slightest hint of surprise on her face.

"I mean ..." He paused and then smiled, "All right. Apparently I don't need to hide who I am."

"Who are you?" Aleksis asked, smiling back. "A doctor? A student?"

"I'm indeed a doctor, but I got bored with my profession, so I went back to university to study again ... That's not a crime, right?" Nicolae asked.

Ah, if he admitted that he was indeed a doctor, wouldn't his value actually rise in Aleksis' eyes? Besides, he really liked her, and sooner or later he would reveal who he truly was to Aleksis.