Chapter 15 : The presentation

A deafening silence reigned in the elevator as we made our way to the conference room. There was only Nathaniel, Larry and Ellie as Jennifer had taken the other elevator.

I don't know what took hold of me earlier when I saw Nathaniel and Jennifer together. Until then I was unperturbed in concentration but as soon as I saw them I was as if I was unsettled for a short time and this silence in the elevator doesn't really help me.

"So, I see that you've met Ms. Blake ", said Ellie with a hint of anger in her voice.

"Sorry...wh...at did you say ?", replied Nathaniel. He wasn't actually focused on Ellie just because he is still a little bit shocked by what happened earlier even if it was a big deal.

"I said that you've met Ms. Blake earlier or Jennifer if you prefer ", said Ellie.

"Oh ! Yeah, she helped me a lot earlier when I was looking for coffee for your mother", Nathaniel replied simply.

"Ah !", she only replied.

At this point Larry and Nathaniel just turned and looked at each other as they were a little surprised by Ellie's response and what was that supposed to mean ? asked Nathaniel to himself . And then no one else said a word until the elevator stops. Finally they reached the conference room, Ellie walked straight ahead of Nathaniel and Larry with confidence and already no emotion was emanating from her face.

Once she walked through the door to the conference room, everyone stood up. The most important people such as the members of the Committee were seated on either side around a very long rectangle-shaped table, there were also foreign investors, Ellie's mother, all the heads of each department at JPI were there too , and even some executives of the city of Roswell.

Larry and Nathaniel walked towards the back of the room where other assistants and secretaries like this were standing as Ellie still confidently walked to the front of the room and all eyes were on her.

This is a great moment for her, this presentation represents a major turning point in her career as it has proven once and for all to these old fossil members of the Committee that Ellie is truly competent as CEO of Jefferson Pharmaceutical Industries.

I used to speak in front of a lot of people and I always managed to keep the stress under control but there I was on the verge of breaking down, I felt my heart beating very fast in my chest, my hands starting to get sweaty, and my mouth completely dry because I knew that I couldn't afford to make mistakes this time.

If the presentation goes wrong and doesn't convince them then they will put me on the sidelines and choose another person to be the head of JPI and there's no way that won't happen as long as my name is Ellie Jefferson.

When I was trying somehow to calm myself down, my gaze suddenly met Nathaniel's, he was staring at me which was not helping me either but then he started waving me to breathe and exhale while inside me. staring. It's strange, I felt just in his eyes that he reassured me especially with that big smile on his face, so I took a deep breath and started the presentation :

"Ladies and gentlemen, good morning ! On behalf of Jefferson Pharmaceutical Industries, I'd like to welcome you here. My name is Ellie Jefferson and I am the CEO at Jefferson Pharmaceutical Industries. I also particularly wanted to thank you all for coming to this great event. I also particularly wanted to thank you all for coming to this great event because today science as we know it is about to change. Today I am proud to present the drug Bioprex to you...."

The presentation went off without a hitch, everyone seemed fascinated by the new drug. My gaze and Nathaniel's met from time to time but I didn't let that distract me.

"...On this end of my presentation, thank you for your attention and for listening to me until the end."

Everyone stood up and began to applaud to break everything up. Finally it was the end of this d*mn presentation and from that moment I breathe normally again, I can't believe that I did it.

Of course then some people started to ask me questions about the new drug but I think that the hard part is over.

After the presentation ended, everyone began to congratulate me and said that the presentation was great, starting with my mother, followed by the members of the Committee and then JPI's head of each department.

"Honey, the presentation was amazing. You were amazing", my mother said and hugged me.

"Just one word : AWESOME !!!", exclaimed Larry.

"Thanks Larry. I feel so good now that it's finally done", Ellie said relieved.

"You were just fabulous Ellie", Nathaniel said shyly behind me while rubbing his neck.

"Thank you so much Nathaniel. It wasn't simple but I did it', Ellie simply replied with a soft voice.

"Uh... What do you say if we...", Nathaniel said but he was interrupted by Ellie's mother.

"Ellie, honey ! Do you remember Mr. Kaufmann ?", Ellie's mother said.

"Yeah! Yeah of course I remembered him", Ellie replied.

"Well, Mr. Kaufmann couldn't attend your presentation but luckily he sent son to his place. Let me introduce you to Gabriel Kaufmann, to be specific he is single", Catherine said and then smirked.

I know what my mother is doing. She is still trying to put me with the son of one of those college friends.

"Mother, I know what you're trying to do but it won't work this time, I'm pretty sure that he is boring to death, stuck and has no sense of humor", Ellie replied while rolling her eyes.

But an intoxicating smell of cedar wood, amber with a hint of spice was emanating behind Ellie when she just finished her sentence and then an attractive male voice with a German accent said : " I'm glad to meet you too Ms. Jefferson".

Then Ellie turned around and she couldn't believe her eyes. A tall man,with dark brown hair neatly combed back, with icy blue eyes and dressed elegantly in a navy blue suit was standing right in front of her and reaching out his hand to greet her.

"Uhm...Nice to meet you too Mr. Kaufmann", she only said while taking Gabriel's hand. Ellie was terribly ashamed at this moment and didn't know what else to say.

"Please call me Gabriel", he replied and then placed a tender kiss on Ellie's hand. Again everyone's eyes in the conference room were on Ellie and Gabriel.

This situation was making Nathaniel a little bit uncomfortable so he prefered to get out of the conference room and walk right past Ellie but she hadn't even noticed him as she was still captivated by Gabriel.