Chapter 859 - Living Like Regular People (1/2)
”Hi, Dad,” Altair greeted their father as he opened the apartment door and went inside. Vega followed behind him. Nicolae, who was typing something on his laptop, immediately came out of his study to welcome the two teenagers.
”Hey ... you're back. Did you get my order?” he asked. Altair held up a paper bag containing groceries in his hand.
”Everything is there, except for cherry tomatoes,” answered the young man.
”Ha. It's okay. I have been wanting to cook this new recipe for a while now. You guys go change and have lunch first.”
Nicolae received the grocery bag from Altair and tapped his shoulder, then stored the groceries in the refrigerator.
Altair and Vega immediately went to their respective rooms and changed clothes then hurried to the dining table overlooking a large balcony filled with big potted plants. The apartment where Nicolae lived was very comfortable and spacious. He deliberately lived in an apartment for practicality. Also, it was good to disguise his identity while he worked as a professor at the university.
Altair and Vega also like their rooms in Nicolae's apartment, although in terms of size and comfort, they couldn't be compared to their rooms in their parents' mansion, which were very spacious and luxurious. In the adjacent apartment lived two personal bodyguards who were assigned by their father to always protect them secretly.
Over the past two years, they had managed to live a simple life in the Eastern part of New York City, like regular people. Every weekend, both went home to Alaric and Aleksis' mansion in Manhattan. Sometimes, they traveled to visit their grandparents in Stuttgart and Berlin.
Altair and Vega had it easy as the children of Elios Linden and grandchildren of the Schneider family. All kinds of luxury were available to them at any time. For them, it was very easy to travel to Europe or Asia whenever they wanted because their family had a private jet.
That was why, when Vega heard that Altair had a fan who indirectly boasted that her family traveled to Switzerland to spend the weekend, she was not impressed at all and just laughed. If she wanted, Vega could go to Switzerland and went back on the same day.
However, the twins really didn't want to attract attention. They enjoyed school life like ordinary teenagers and tried to manage their time as well as possible. They knew that they can only live as ordinary people until they are 35 years old, after that, they had to withdraw from the public and find a new identity.
As Alchemists who could live young forever, their faces and appearance would stay the same after they turn 25 years old. For the next ten years or so, they would be able to claim that they genetically looked youthful to others. However, over the age of 35, it would be difficult for them to convince the public that their faces still looked like they were in their 20s because of genetics.
Alaric Rhionen, the twins' biological father, rarely appeared in public. However, every time he did, people had begun to talk about his appearance since he still looked very young, even though he should have been 40 years old in the eyes of the world. Alaric and Aleksis realized that they had to get out of public life immediately and not show up again so as not to make people suspicious.
He had long wanted to live in peace with his wife and children, but as an icon of his massive company group, he had no choice but to appear publicly and to his employees occasionally.
Nicolae had been using his identity for five years now, and people who knew him on campus also thought he was in his late thirties. Many people praised his youthful appearance, especially when he was not wearing a suit and tie, which made him look formal and more m.a.t.u.r.e.
He had also been thinking about finding a new identity five years from now. He just wanted to wait for Altair and Vega to be a.d.u.l.ts before he disappeared since they all would look like they were of the same age.