Perfectionist

The Highest Honour!

Alexis' POV

'Da-dada-da~'

'Da da!'

The music concluded with a final note being played as I posed with Maddox, my conversation with him coming to an end.

"That was pretty good, Mister Carnegie. You're quite the looker."

"I have my charms, Miss Niko. Maybe you'll come to see them in a better light after we spend some time together."

I wasn't dense enough to not realise what he was suggesting.

"Is that a date, Mister Carnegie?"

"Think of what you will. How does next month at the Ritz sound?"

"The Ritz? Quite the fancy option, Mister Carnegie."

"Is it a deal, Miss Niko?"

"If you're treating, I don't see why not. After all, it is a menu made by a person distinguished even by her Majesty herself."

"Brilliant. I'll leave you to it then...Alexis."

I raise a brow, my lips lifting lightly,"Same to you, Maddox."

He leaves me to my own thoughts and heads straight for his table while I mingle around for about and hour or so before it's my speech-

It wouldn't matter anyway, next month.

I make my way up to the stage at the announcer's voice calling my name.

I see it.

The gazes.

Jealousy, Hatred, Admiration, Love-Everything.

They all focus their eyes on me, the press swarming in once more as soon as the dinner concluded.

This speech of mine would either make it or break it.

A stunning performance could give me a good jumpstart but a finale?

A finale would wrap things up.

And if the wrap-up was weak, you'd become a laughing stock or turn mediocre in others' eyes.

"What exactly is innovation?" I start off with a rhetorical question.

The hall's chatter dulls, leaving the clicks of the cameras the only sound that echoed.

"Innovation isn't just thinking out the box. It's taking a leap of faith. It doesn't matter if you poor or rich, high-flying or low-class. All it takes is a little thought and some genius. Look at Tesla. He revolutionised this world. Compared to him, I'm nothing. I've just given a few equations and machines but he introduced electricity to this world. He-Took a leap of faith."

"Now, Thomas Edison. This man is responsible for creating the light bulb. He took a leap. A jump into the void and made a name for himself."

"Success, is not defined by how rich, how influential or how great you are. It is defined by how much you accomplish. Genius, is not defined by some Intelligence Quotient. It is defined by what you do to be considered genius. Innovators are not remembered for being smart, for being rich, for being the best at what they do! They are recognised for taking risks! For diving into the unknown! For doing insane things no one has ever done! By questioning the logics that are deep-seeded in our society! They break them-" I take a breath.

"And they improve them."

"You need not be smart, you need not be great. All you must have is in here-" I tap my chest.

"Daringness."

"Dare. Dare to challenge the norms. Dare to break the rules. Dare to fight against all odds. Dare to create something new. You need to be daring."

"Newton's Laws. Three of them. Inertia, Balanced forces and his equation: Force equals mass times acceleration. They seem correct in our everyday lives, right?" I take an apple I had prepared from the space under the podium and dropped it.

"Gravity pulls it down."

"Now, what if you zoom into the macro level? Things start to fall apart. Thus, Quantum Mechanics. The theory of relativity. General Relativity and Special Relativity. All of these are things anyone that puts their mind to it can do."

"In the 1900s, people used whale oil, putting prices up as whales got hunted to near extinction. And one man took this as his opportunity. He took a blind leap of faith and invested his all. And he struck rich. He, at one point, had over ninety percent of the oil industry in his pockets, becoming one of the most influential and richest men alive. He started from nearly nothing and became something. He not only made money, he revolutionised an entire industry."

I face the crowd and the cameras, my eyes expressing heartfelt encouragement.

"What are you all waiting for?" I ask fervour.

"If doesn't matter if you're poor. It doesn't matter if you're some wastrel hiding away behind your parents. What has happened, has happened. The most important thing is the now. You might not have dared to in the past but dare to now! Jump into the abyss! Follow where that intuition of yours leads you! Create and revolutionise this world! We are the younger generation! We are the future of humanity! The world's hope rests on our shoulders and we must carry this burden just like our fathers, forefathers and ancestors! Cast away all inequalities! Cast away your fear of failure! Failure is the father of Success! Reach out and step into the void and create your own views, your own opinions and step onto the stage that is this world!"

"We are here to further the progress of humanity, jot drag it down! We must not remain in the shadows of our ancestors! We must move forward, go headstrong and be even bolder than our ancestors! We must not falter in our steps but be filled with daringness! We must fulfil what our ancestors cannot! Revolutionise the world! Who knows, you might be the one to usher humanity into a new era."

"This world is our younger generation's canvas. We are free to paint it."

I closed my eyes and concluded.

"You need not be the best at what you do but-" I bowed before leaving the stage,"When others falter in the face of adversity, when they reach a roadblock they cannot pass, you must innovate and find a way."

"You must dare."

———

"This is BBC News reporter Angeline Gears here at the very site of debut of one Miss Alexis Niko. As you have all just heard, that was the speech given by Miss Alexis Niko herself. With such a stunning finale, this is surely a night that will be recorded in the annals of histor-Wait."

"Just in, we have received news that her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the II has declared that she is appointing Miss Alexis Niko as a Lady under the Most Noble Order of the Garter!"