Awards
Looking at his watch, Christian looked up and smiled guiltily "Mr. Steve, I'm sorry I can't answer that question for now. Time is pressing fast and I have to leave, but I promise that by the end of the event, I will answer most of your questions"
"I'll be waiting then, thank you for your time" Smiling softly at the polite child, Steve stood up and looked into the camera "We had the opportunity to hear from the famous 'millennium kid', a nickname bestowed by Harvard's own professors."
Along the way, Eva politely turned away anyone who wanted to ask questions to her or Christian, saying the same thing as Christian 'After the event is over, questions will be answered.'
Hailie and Alan were overwhelmed by so many people around them, causing them to not want to separate more than a few steps from their mother, but still looked curiously at all the people approaching them.
Professor Andrew seeing Christian walk in left his brief interview with the media and followed him with the silent Professor Jean.
"Christian, you did well" Smiling, Andrew congratulates Christian.
"Still not past the tricky part Professor, I have to give another interview on the way out."
"Did you prepare your speech for the awards?"
"Yes, I have something similar" Christian nodded with a strange smile.
Entering the venue, Christian found many stares on him, but disregarding them, he asked "Where do we sit?"
"Wait, I have to introduce you to someone" Leading Christian, the professor came to the side of an older woman.
The woman would look quite ordinary if it wasn't for her elegant outfit, she had short blonde hair, a height of about 1.73 centimeters, while her face had obvious signs of age, with several wrinkles by her eyes and forehead, but in her eyes, you could still see the vitality shining, remarking that the woman cannot be judged just by her looks.
"Christian, this is Catherine Johnson president of Harvard."
Arching his eyebrows, Christian smiles and bows slightly "Nice to meet you, I'm Christian Grey."
"What a polite boy" Catherine smiled, looking deeply at the boy in front of her, then turning to Eva and smiling "You should feel proud as a mother Miss Eva, you've done an amazing job with Christian"
"The truth is he grew up all on his own" Smiling bitterly, Eva stretches out her hand and greets "I'm Eva Grey, nice to meet you"
"Nice to meet you" Shaking hands, Catherine smiled, then looked down at Hailie and Alan.
"They're your other children, aren't they?" Crouching down to the children's level, Catherine spoke with a smile "Hello children, how are you?"
"Fine" Hailie nodded quickly.
"Good..." Nodded Alan shyly, hiding behind Eva's leg.
"I'm glad" Smiling, Catherine turns to Christian, looking directly into the boy's beautiful eyes "No doubt everything is special about you Christian, I heard about your books and your achievements in science, you sure have a great future."
"Thank you, I work to be even better every day" Smiling humbly, Christian replied, while inwardly thinking 'Let's start with influences, it's a good start with this woman'
"That's the attitude" Catherine laughed "Christian, do you have any thoughts on where you would like to study in college?"
"Not really, I am busy with a lot of projects I don't have time to think about it yet."
"President, I haven't told you about this yet, but Christian has ordered me to buy more than 200 books on biology, fauna, flora and gastronomic chemical sciences" Andrew interrupted, causing the woman to raise her eyebrows.
"Oh, that's a big number, are you thinking of doing something with that much information?"
"Yes, 2 days ago my mother gave me coffee to see what it tasted like, but it tasted lousy, I want to know why it tastes like that."
"That's... a big ambition" Catherine smiled strangely, then looked towards Hailie and Alan "Then let me leave you an invitation to Harvard for when you think about college, and obviously we will also leave an invitation for your cute siblings"
Her eyes widening, Eva looked at her children intently, trying to indicate with her gaze to accept and thank them.
"Thank you very much for your invitation, I promise you that Harvard will be my priority when the process comes" Smiling gratefully, Christian turned to his siblings "And you? Do you like the idea of going to Harvard?"
"Is it that college they show in the movies?" tilting his head, Alan asked.
"Yes, it is."
"I want to go" Hailie nodded quickly.
"Me too" Alan continued.
"Then it's settled" Catherine smiled brightly, then stood up and looked towards Eva "I'll be expecting you in a few years, just get to my office and we can skip the tryouts if necessary"
"Thank you so much for the opportunity" Smiled Eva happily, feeling deeply that each time her life is getting better and better.
"Let's move on to sit down the event should be about to begin" Catherine smiled, leading everyone to the front seats, where they were all marked with their respective names, including Eva's, Hailie's, and Alan's.
As they sat down, Andrew talked to Christian about how the process is going, indicating that he should say a few words for each award he wins, but to keep them to himself and say them at the end.
At the same time explaining that once he wins an award, he should not go back to his seat, but sit in the award-winning seats on the stage.
But at that, the lights went out, while the stage was illuminated and behind the red curtain, a woman came out "Welcome to all those who are with us today, the international science meeting has begun".
Time passed quickly for Christian, but slowly for Eva, Hailie, and Alan, who seemed to melt from boredom.
The scientific words, the great events, the great achievements, everything that happened in the last 4 years, were named in detail, in that also Christian's theories were openly praised by the woman.
After an hour and a half, new lights came on next to the stage, showing 40 white seats.
"With all these achievements, the world of science will award prizes to the most outstanding scientists, in order to recognize their efforts and their help to science."
After his words, a man approached with a table on wheels, where on the table could be seen different and numerous glass boxes, where inside you could see the coveted awards.
The awarding of prizes was quite long, numerous scientists were awarded, but the important moment came suddenly.
"The next award to be presented is the Carla Friedrich Grauss Medal for mathematicians who contribute relevant mathematics with areas outside mathematics, and the awardee is..." Opening the envelope, the woman reads the name and raises her eyebrows "Christian Grey!"
Like the other awardees, a round of applause rang through the place, while a spotlight was turned on Christian's seat.
Rising from his seat, Christian smiled towards the crowd, while some women upon seeing who the awardee was, frowned, there were even people who opened their eyes and mouths wide.
Stepping onto the stage under the loud applause of his family, Christian received the glass box and smiled, then climbed onto the conference table and looked out into the audience "Many may not know me, but let me introduce myself properly, I am Christian Grey, the person who created 4 theories that answer the problems of the millennium."
"..."
Silence fell in the auditorium, but undeterred, Christian continued "I'm supposed to make a speech and talk about my background in science like everyone else, but per Professor Andrew's request, I'll leave all that for the end of this event, thank you very much" Smiling, Christian sat down next to the other winners, instantly noticing that he is the only man in the place.
"Well... let's continue" Smiling with a bit of discomfort, the woman continued awarding 4 more prizes, until....
"The next award to be presented, is the Nevanlinna medal, awarded to scientists for great achievements in computational mathematics" Opening the envelope, the woman read the name and her eyebrows twitched "Christian Grey! For his theory P versus NP, theoretically proving that in certain cases NP can always be P!"
Another round of applause rang through the place, but the atmosphere was getting more and more suffocating, something normal if you put yourself in the place of a scientist.
More than 10 years of career only for the award to be given to a 10-year-old must feel awful.
"Thank you very much" Smiled Christian, receiving his medal, to then return to the seat after a photo of the cameraman in charge of the event.
Another 2 awards were given out, and out came Christian again, but this time with the Copley medal, where the applause that was heard the most was from Eva and her children, while a big smile is seen on the woman's face.
After that, the last awards were handed out, leaving one last glass box on the table.
"Our last prize to be given, it is most awaited prize within the world of mathematics, a prize that is awarded once every 4 years, and curiously this year it was only given to a single person" Opening the last golden-colored envelope, the presenter spoke "Christian Grey!"
Standing up, Christian reached over and took the other award, having his hands full already with the 4 glass boxes, but nonchalantly smiled for the cameras and nodded.
To then look at Professor Andrew, receiving confirmation that it's time, looking out to the audience, then to his mother who was wiping away tears, Christian took a deep breath and spoke.
"I am deeply grateful to have the opportunity to be in front of so many greats in the sciences, many of you were my source of information in many areas."
"..."
"But before I start talking about theories, I would like to talk about something that happened on my way to this place" Looking towards every person in the place, Christian takes the microphone and gets down from the presentation table, walking quietly around the place.
"I don't know if it has happened to you, but there are days where I find that everything is beautiful, the sun, the noise of the people, the babies crying... somehow I find a connection with my surroundings... they are those days where I usually say 'How beautiful the world is', have you felt something similar?"
Looking at the audience, Christian sees many women smile slightly and nod, drawing a smile from him "Many things can motivate that feeling, being with the one you love, being with your family, getting a breakthrough in your research, knowing you will be a mother, among thousands of others... but my reason was simple"
"I woke up in the warm embrace of my mother" Smiling, Christian looks at his mom "Then I got up in my pajamas, and walked to the table to have breakfast with my siblings... that alone was enough to make my day perfect"
"..."
Smiling softly, Christian spoke "You may not believe me, but that was my reason, that was the moment I said 'How beautiful the world is'"
"The whole day went on the same, I was looking out the window, watching people go by, and everything was rosy in my mind... but as I left the hotel to come here, I came across something that changed that mood completely."
Losing his smile, Christian looks towards the crowd "I met the person who drives the car that brought me, arguing with a 12 year old girl.... well, I call her a girl, but she was older than me."
With an uncomfortable smile, Christian spoke, getting small chuckles from the audience "But what got me thinking was the look of the girl... her clothes looked like rags as if she had pulled them out of a dumpster... her face looked dirty and her hair greasy."
"..."
"At that moment I walked towards the girl... I asked her name and she answered me very shyly... I will call her Liz so as not to expose her identity... it turns out that my driver's reason for yelling at her was because the girl was always begging for money outside the hotel, something that annoyed the residents."
"..."
"Can you imagine that? Fully grown Adults instead of feeling empathy for a girl in that state would get upset? People who should act as images of tomorrow for children..."
"..."
"I talked to Liz, turns out she was raising $5000 to pay for a gym and a trainer, as her dream was to be the best UFC fighter ever" Smiling again, Christian continued "In all my life I saw many types of looks, but I swear to you by all that was holy, the look that girl had, had more conviction than most adults I have managed to converse with"
"..."
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Edited By: Lord_Shiva_