"Why… why are you doing this?" Felzein murmured, his voice low with surprise, as Rosa and Melati wrapped their arms around him without a word.
They gave no answer, and yet none was needed.
There was a stillness to their closeness, a quiet that spoke of concern, of care, of something neither girl knew quite how to say aloud.
Eventually, it was Melati who broke the silence, her voice barely more than a whisper.
"Please… don't ever do something like that again."
Rosa, her tone trembling, added, "You shouldn't harm yourself, not even for science. What if something had gone wrong?"
Felzein offered a small, gentle smile, and in response to their fears, he tightened his arms around them, holding them as one might hold a fragile treasure.
"My rose and jasmine… always so quick to worry," he said with quiet affection.
And so they remained, the three of them, suspended in a moment that felt outside of time.
Unmoving, unguarded, as though the world beyond the laboratory had fallen away.
Felzein made no move to end it, allowing them to remain there, safe in the silence, in the warmth they shared.
To him, Rosa was like a rose in its first bloom. Delicate, untouched by even the gentlest breeze.
And Melati, she was a jasmine flower, soft and soothing, carrying the scent of calm even though she had once been bruised by life's cruelty.
At last, and almost reluctantly, the embrace loosened.
Slowly, they stepped back, leaving behind the unspoken comfort of that quiet, precious moment.
Felzein, attuned to the unspoken questions lingering in Rosa and Melati's eyes, finally broke the silence with a knowing smile.
"You're still wondering how the serum works, aren't you?" he said gently.
The two young women offered no verbal response, only a pair of earnest nods, their curiosity as vivid as ever.
"Very well," he said, drawing in a steady breath as his expression turned thoughtful. "Allow me to explain."
His tone carried a quiet gravity now, as if he were about to unveil something sacred.
A truth forged through sleepless nights and relentless perseverance.
"At the beginning, the serum was intended solely for the mending of broken bones," he began, pacing slowly, his voice a calm rhythm that echoed through the quiet of the lab.
"But as time went on, I refined the formula, layer by layer, until it became something far more versatile. It can now heal more than fractures. It can mend cuts, bruises, even tissue trauma."
He paused to meet their eyes, his own gaze filled with a quiet pride, not of vanity, but of purpose.
"The essence of the serum lies in its core components, substances of rare potency with astonishing regenerative capabilities. Chief among them, growth peptides."
"These peptides..." he continued, his voice now soft but assured, "...are not unlike conductors in a grand orchestra. They awaken the body's own healing symphony, signalling cells into action."
"They stimulate the fibroblasts, those unsung architects of the skin, who begin weaving collagen with fervour, rebuilding what was torn, strengthening what was weak."
His words hung in the air, almost tangible in their wonder, as if the very molecules around them stirred in response.
Felzein's eyes gleamed not with arrogance, but with the light of discovery and Rosa and Melati, though still silent, listened with rapt attention, as though witnessing the unfolding of a miracle.
Felzein's fingers curled delicately around a slender glass vial as he lifted it into the light, the golden liquid within catching a soft gleam.
He turned toward Rosa and Melati, his gaze both earnest and alight with the fervour of discovery.
"The second essential component," he began, his voice carrying the cadence of one who knew the weight of his words, "is an extract of stem cells, painstakingly isolated from bone marrow."
He paused, allowing the magnitude of what he had said to settle in the air like dust in sunlight.
"These cells are extraordinary," he continued. "They hold within them the potential to become virtually any type of cell the body requires. Bone, muscle, skin. They are, quite literally, the architects of regeneration."
A hush lingered as he set the vial gently back down, before lifting another.
"But there is more," he said, almost reverently. "Hyaluronic acid found naturally in our joints and dermal layers. It's not simply a moisturiser, as many assume. It draws water like a magnet and holds it in place, bathing injured tissue in hydration."
He looked briefly toward Melati, then Rosa, as though seeking unspoken understanding.
"Hydration," he said, "is not merely comfort. It is healing. It allows new tissue to knit together swiftly, seamlessly."
Then, as if revealing a secret long kept, he reached for a final vial, "And finally, copper peptides."
His eyes lit up.
"These are nothing short of miraculous. They stimulate the body's production of collagen and elastin, those invisible fibres that hold us together. They improve blood flow, encourage the formation of fresh skin, and mend what has been torn apart."
He looked up at them both, no longer simply a young man in a lab coat, but a visionary.
Someone who had reached beyond the known, and returned with something luminous.
"It is not alchemy," he said softly, "but it is very nearly magic."
Rosa and Melati remained spellbound, their eyes fixed upon Felzein as though he had unveiled a secret from the very heart of nature itself.
"And lastly," he said, his voice now softer, almost reverent, "to heighten the serum's potency, I introduced a delicate concentration of nano-liposomes."
He held up the vial as if presenting a treasure, "These minuscule carriers are engineered to escort the active compounds deep beneath the skin's surface, into the very fabric of the dermis."
"They do not simply sit idle, they voyage inward, delivering their payload where it matters most."
There was a brief, contemplative silence as the weight of his words settled upon the room like dust in golden light.
"In doing so," Felzein continued, his expression earnest, "each ingredient is afforded its fullest potential. They act not as isolated agents, but as a symphony. Peptides, stem cells, hyaluronic acid, copper peptides, and now these nano-liposomes, all working in concert."
He looked from Rosa to Melati, a quiet conviction in his gaze, "Together, they quicken the healing of wounds. Whether upon the skin, within the bones, or nestled deep in the delicate tissues of the body. It is a union of science and nature... tuned to the frequency of restoration."