Caspar and Finland spent their wedding anniversary and new year's eve together on F Island. After they both agreed to 'share' Aleksis with Lauriel, the two decided to let Lauriel take the little girl on an adventure until their vacation was over.
They didn't think that it was necessary for them to meet in Thailand. They would just meet in Singapore before returning to New York together.
Lauriel was very happy when he heard their decision and for a moment they could not hear his voice on the phone.
"Are you okay?" Caspar asked in amazement.
"Hmm... I'm fine," Lauriel answered in a hoarse voice, "Thank you."
"After all you are Aleksis' godfather," Caspar said. "It would be good for Aleksis to be surrounded by people who love her."
He had thought this over carefully and he concluded that, given the circumstances, he would be able to accept Lauriel's presence in Aleksis's life. If they were together, Caspar and Lauriel were like a combination of Brain and Muscle.
Caspar was the 'brain' because he used and gained a lot of knowledge and intelligence during his life, while Lauriel was the 'muscle' because he was physically very strong and he was an expert in physical confrontation. Certainly it would be good for his daughter to have a balanced role model.
One day, when Aleksis was old enough to fall in love, she would definitely compare all the men she met with her two father figures. Caspar did not need to worry that his daughter would choose the wrong man because she did not need a compensation for a father figure she was missing in life. She had two fathers who really loved her.
Lauriel sent Caspar and Finland a lot of photographs of Aleksis throughout their adventure. They received pictures of Aleksis on a hot air balloon, tasting various exotic foods in Bangkok, visiting various Buddhist temples in Chiang Mai, hiking in the inland forests of Chiang Mai, as well as exploring the Mekong River. Thereafter, they continued their journey to Cambodia.
Finland and Caspar were very relieved because Aleksis looked very healthy and it seemed like she was really enjoying her adventures. Lauriel also seemed warmer and not as reclusive. They really hoped that Lauriel would cancel his intention to take Death because he could now spend a lot of time with Aleksis.
Time flew by so fast and suddenly it was already time to go back to New York and work. On January 2, Caspar and Finland returned to the Continental Hotel Singapore and, as soon as Lauriel and Aleksis arrived, they immediately arranged to return to New York. Due to the 12-hour time difference between Singapore and New York, if they departed from Singapore on the evening of January 2nd, they would arrived in New York on the 2nd.
"Are you sure you want to return to work tomorrow? Why not take a break?" Caspar asked as they landed in NY. "You can apply for sick leave or something... so we can rest at home before going back to the office."
"Taking a break?" Finland almost laughed at that, "What do you think we did on F Island for 10 days? You're the boss, you can skip work casually, but I have a deadline tomorrow. I have to arrange a meeting with the Indonesian startup and continue my report on the power generation industry, the wind turbine projects."
Caspar knew that his wife was a workaholic who wanted to vent her desire to work as much as possible before she had to stay at home to give birth and take care of their children, so he could understand.
In his opinion, once Finland drank the immortality potion and became part of the Alchemists, the girl would learn to be more relaxed in life and not rush things like this. If she wanted to work, learn something, and do anything in life, she would have forever to do them all.
Caspar finally relented and, on arrival at the mansion, immediately prepared work for tomorrow.
***
January and February passed quickly. Although the air was often piercing cold in the winter, Finland thought that New York City was very beautiful when covered in snow.
Ten years ago she, would not dare imagine that she would live and work in this city, let alone to step foot in it. You could say New York was the city of dreams for so many people in the world.
She also really enjoyed living with her family. Three years ago, when they were just married, she did not live together with Caspar for two years and therefore they could not enjoy their married life as a normal husband and wife.
Everything changed when they met again in Singapore a few months ago. She was very happy to see that the longer they lived together, the nicer and more pleasant it felt.
They often spend time cooking together because they both loved cooking, even though in the mansion there are many servants who work for them. Caspar kept his promise not to drink wine and other alcoholic drinks during Finland's pregnancy to accompany the girl.
He celebrated Finland's birthday by taking his wife on a trip to Los Angeles to meet Jean and Billie because he knew that Finland would be happy to meet them.
A birthday bonus for Finland was when they were told that Jean and Billie had recently started dating! She truly hoped that the two would go further and fall in love for real.
Her 27th birthday felt like the best birthday of her entire life and she endlessly hugged Caspar and kissed him gratefully when they returned to New York.