Chapter 32: The Presentation

Azalea Johnson's POV

I was a nervous wreck now. I cannot believe it. It was time to show what I have discovered and I was a nervous wreck. I mean, I lived for this moment, why was I having a breakdown now?

"Hey, are you okay?" Alex asked me as I was sitting in the backstage. He had come to me to Washington DC and have been supportive along the way of our journey together for the past 5 years.

We have been to the field site together and worked on the papers together. We just got reviewed in the American Scientific Community about his discovery and related to my work as well.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm fine but I think my stomach did not agree with me right now," I said as I exhaled a breath. Alex was rubbing my back when he looked around the backstage. The presenter before me was not done yet but that did not help me to get through this right now.

"come on, Lea. You can do this. Just breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out," he said as he was rubbing my back. I did what he asked me to. I was calm for a moment as I pictured our lives together for the last years.

it has been a routine that I will wake up to his handsome face and we kissed before we went to shower together. It was one of our traditions to be close to one another and certainly because Alex did not want me out of his sight. I smiled at that thought.

"Why are you smiling?" He asked me what brings me back to the moment. I looked at his face and I touched his face with my hands.

"thank you," I said as I looked at him, searching his eyes. His eyes softened at me.

"well, I thanked you as well for being with me for two months now," he said as he drew me into a hug. I snuggled against his chest and I was smiling until my cheeks hurt.

"you know I have to present after this right?" I asked him as he was putting his forehead onto mine. He looked into my eyes, into my soul.

"well, what can I say? I am your husband and you're my wife and I don't give a care about people talking about us now," he smirked before he kissed me. I pulled him closer as I knew he was the real thing that can help me get through this right.

"break a leg, okay?" He said after he broke the kiss. I smiled.

"go, you need to be there when I was on stage," I said as I went to push him lightly. He laughed before he went back to his seat. The stage manager asked me to be ready.

"5 minutes," he said before he went to the other side of the stage. I was taking a deep breath. I can do this. I fucking owned this stage now.

"introducing Mrs. Azalea Johnson-MacWatters, candidate for Oceanography Project from New York," he announced as I was holding my chin high and walked onto the stage.

Cheers from the spectators boomed across the auditorium as I walked up to the stage and lights were on me. I was smiling at them all even though they were in the dark. I took a breath before I spot Alex in the front. I smiled.

"well, many think that people are not the problem. Humans are not the problem. maybe, they are true but I would like to think it is not. We are the problem but we also happened to be the solution for the problem that we created," I opened my presentation.

"If we can find the right solution with all the genius' minds around the world, we can save the planet and it will not be a problem. When I first started my journey to be a candidate for the Ph.D. program at my university, I thought I wanted to work on some ancient life that can help to determine the path of the future for the ocean," I said as I looked around before I shook my head.

"not anymore, in fact, someone beats me to it," I said. Laughter filled the room. I smiled.

"But, then again, I searched and searched deep inside me to find what was I doing to give my time and money for this, for my proposal and I thought, maybe we can try to solve some of the real-life problems instead of going back to the ancient, am I right?" I asked them before I looked around.

"so, a colleague of mine asked me the question of Chemistry of the Ocean. I thought, what is this guy babble about?" I earned a smile from Alex as I smiled at him.

"well, here's what we will discover today as you listen to my presentation. oh, and that was just the opening of my presentation," I said as I heard some laughter before I started to get into the details of my field trip works and proposal.

"Nice work,"

"here's my contact info. Maybe we can work together in the future,"

I thanked everyone that has come to greet me when I was standing beside the poster of my work in progress. I knew that I have to be polite and all and I felt welcomed in this community than my own family. But now, I felt like I belonged to both.

"well, that was an amazing speech, my dear," a voice interrupted me and when I turned around, it was Aria, director of NSF.

"Thank you for your compliment, ma'am. You don't know how much it means to me," I said as I shook her hand. She mentioned to the people that were walking with her and I greeted them.

"well, it seems that our funding paid off. I know I can hard sometimes," she said as she looked at me. I laughed.

"well, you are one tough cookie but I know you only do that so the scientific community will thrive with excellence," I said. Aria smiled at me.

"well, I should get going. Say hi to Alex for me," she said as she gestured to the people that were with her to get around the auditorium. I was answering some questions that visitors came to my poster and I was glad that they learned something and often time, they leave contact info to help me out in the future, possibly with jobs.

"so, here it is. The great Mrs. Azalea Johnson-MacWatters," I smiled as I heard the voice. I turned to look at Alex as he was standing in front of me with a smirk on his face. Everyone has left the auditorium after the presentation and the one that sticks around were people that interested to fund their research.

"well, I can thank my great mentor for that," I said as I was packing up stuff. The poster will be delivered to me by the organizers.

"so, do you have some free time, ma'am or would you will be accompanied by someone else?" He asked me as he was playing with me. I rolled my eyes at him as I know it was not the best thing that I heard tonight.

"well, I do have a date with my husband so—"

"will it be a burden for me to escort you to him? I promise I will keep my hands to myself," he said as he held his hands in surrender. I smiled before I took my bags and I went to walk beside him.

"well, my husband is a very jealous man. I don't want you to die when he sees you," I said as I took his arms. He beamed at me.

"well, we don't want that now, can we?" He said before leading me out of the auditorium to the hotel room that he had rented out for us to stay in DC.

"Aria said hello to me tonight and she wanted to say hi to you but she was busy to make sure that everything was worth the money for NSF funding," I said as I was leaning against Alex's bare chest as he played with my hair. it was only 9 PM but we don't want to get out of the room as well as this bed.

"hmm, did she said something else?" He asked. I shook my head before he pulled me closer to him and kissed my head.

"I'm hungry," I said as I looked up to him. Alex arched his eyebrow as he was smiling at me.

"well, we did not want to have you starving. Your parents will think that I can take care of you well enough," he said as he took the phone and dialed room service.

"I want to roast, please?" I said as I looked at him. He smiled at me before making the order and then hung up the phone. I smiled as I went to play his chest with my hand.

"are you ready to go back to school?" I asked him. He groaned.

"why can't I be out in the field or just spend some time with you again?" He asked me before he let me straddle his stomach. My hands were on both sides of his head.

"well, we can always have weekend getaways," he whispered before he kissed me. I smiled at him before I can sense that certain anatomy of his was springing to life when the bell rang.

"you need to get that," I said as I was getting off him. He groaned.

"or do you want me to get it?" I asked him as I popped on my elbow to look at him. He scowled.

"no man should see you in that state of glowing after sex, sorry, lovemaking," he said before he got out of bed and put on the robe. I giggled.

"you're the best," I said as I waited for him to get the food.

"always," he said before he went out and I can sense that food was coming and I was famished.