The Republic of ARMY

30. Balance

"... Now that you've been using water closets this entire time, and they have been a fantastic job in breaking down human waste, we would like to shift to something else... Waste water treatment..."

As Drew droned on and on about wastewater treatment, how they would identify a site and set up the entire structure, I chose to catch up on some much needed sleep.

I wasn't being arrogant. I was really just tired.

I tried getting a few extra hours of sleep but Dr. Li could not quit talking about all the projects she had planned in conjunction with Drew.

She had talked with him for hours apparently, and was not only charmed, she eagerly wanted me to like him too.

"I can't like you, so stop."

The entire room was suddenly silent. I opened my eyes to see everyone looking at me like I had suddenly spouted nonsense.

"Miss. Mtenyo, could you please focus on the presentation?" Dr. Li asked, her eyes on me. I nodded and looked at Drew who smiled before he went on talking. I sighed silently and listened, trying not to get derailed by the thoughts in my head.

"Okay... So how exactly will this treatment plant help us...?" I asked them at the end of the presentation. "Yes, I know that we are switching from chemical closets to normal ones, but why exactly? This is the desert, and the evaporation rate is very high. We might end up having very little water left to recycle."

"Well, that might help us create more clouds and allow precipitation."

"I get that the idea is good," I said to the entire gathering, "but our population isn't actually that big. We don't have a thousand people here. Okay, fine, let us say we are planning to have more people settle here to complete the entire program... Then who will do maintenance? Who will make sure that we don't have foul water flowing out of pipes before it arrives at the treatment plant? Also, are the governments of both countries okay with this?"

Everyone stayed silent. I looked at Drew who sighed. "Miss. Mtenyo, can I talk to you after this? Alone?"

"I want answers now."

"Dummy, it was already covered!" Richard said as he poked me. My eyes widened. Fudge, I had already indicated that I really was not paying attention prior to Dr. Li's interference with my dream thought plans.

I was feeling salty for some reason today.

°•°•°•°•

"Have you understood everything?" Drew asked, sitting on the table and looking down at me. I sighed, feeling relieved that it was over. Finally.

"Yes. Thank you. I need to go now."

"Wait... I kind of needed to talk to you about something else," he said, stopping me as I got up and scrambled to collect my things. His eyes were right on mine, and I was standing right next to him.

I stopped, looking over at him.

"Yes, Drew?"

He suddenly blushed and looked down and away before looking at me. "I am a big fan of yours."

"What...?"

"I am a big fan of yours. I've been following your progress right from your music days to your model days to your environmental health and science career in UNEP."

"Umm... Thanks...?"

"I think you're amazing and I would like to ask you for an autograph. Not for me, but for my mum."

"Uh... Sure!" I took the picture he had that had four pictures of me from my fanclub page. "Where did you get these?"

"I compiled them from your fanclub page. My mum wanted this and I made it for her."

"Whoa... It looks really good...!"

I took a sharpie and autographed the pretty edit. I sighed longingly as I thought of my upcoming album release. I had planned to take month or two off to do shows across the world. My entire label was working on that.

It was good to have a team that saw to your comfort in everything.

"I- before I came to Bir Tawil, I heard that you were about to release an album on your official twitter account."

"Oh... Yes, I am about to do that. I have been so busy trying to meet deadlines that I almost forgot about it."

"I wish you the best," he said while smiling. I nodded, thinking to myself that he wasn't so bad after all. Why had I been running from him and avoiding locking eyes? This was actually kind of nice, him being a respectful fan and everything.

I nodded then walked out quietly. The experience had gone better than I had thought it would.

°•°•°•°•

Music Video shoot in the desert was awesome.

Since we technically were not allowed to shoot anything without the support and approval of both governments, we had waited almost three months to get a reply from them.

When the approval finally arrived, it was about a month after I signed Drew's edit. The teams were flown in to work with me for a week. We went to the biggest room and put up green screens, did photoshoots, and then went out and did more photoshoots. It was actually very stunning.

The concept I mean.

We eventually short the singles' MVs and started editing them. We had to rush a lot of things because of timing and deadlines. We shot extra footage in case of anything and then I sent them on their way to LA on the first flight out.

My brother was still surprised from how busy I was and what I did. He couldn't help clapping anytime he met me. My team and the soldiers were also very proud of me and I loved the positive vibes. It made me start working on new music again for my deluxe album.