The Day I Kissed An Older Man

“Boss? Aren’t we going in?” Aaron asked.

Corinne was rooted to the ground as she watched Jeremy get out of the car and walk into Peakrise Auction House. With a frown, she said, “I saw someone I’d rather not see. Let’s wait a while before going in.”

Aaron looked in the direction of Corinne’s gaze. “That seems to be Jeremy from the Holdens. Do you know him?”

Corinne looked disgusted. “Not really.”

…

The auction hall was divided into upper and lower floors. The first floor was for ordinary buyers, while the second floor was for VIP buyers who did not wish to show their identity. They were granted excellent privacy and were identifiable by their room numbers.

Jeremy was in room one, while Corinne was in room seven.

After several unremarkable artifacts were auctioned off, a set of bronze pieces from this auction were carried to the display stand. Once the auctioneer gave a brief lecture on the background and value of the artifacts, bidding commenced at 1.5 million dollars.

“Two million!”

“Three million!”

“Four million!”

…

Eventually, the mysterious bidder from Room One managed to bid for the set of bronze artifacts at a high price of four million, which elicited gasps of awe from the audience.

Inside room seven, Corinne leaned lazily on the sofa and breathed a sigh of relief. Jeremy seemed to have been eyeing the set of bronze artifacts, and judging from the fact that he had already secured it, he would probably leave soon since there was no reason for him to remain there.

“The next piece is a posthumously published painting titled ‘Geese in Late Autumn’ by the famous impressionist painter Nellie Nymphaea. The starting price is seven hundred and fifty thousand!”

“We have a bid of eight hundred thousand from bidder number three!

“Bidder number eleven, nine hundred thousand!

“And now bidder number five, nine hundred and fifty thousand!”

Corinne raised her chin to give Aaron the signal that he could start raising his placard.

million from bidder

again astonished to see such a bid, and they began wondering who the

count, “One and a half million going once!

and uttered the word ‘sold’, Tommy raised his placard from room

by surprise, and he spoke in a more excited tone compared to before. “Three million from bidder number

bidder number one raised the bid by that big an amount. Everyone wondered if the painting would

and wondered why Jeremy was

just as upset as her. “What in the world is Mister Jeremy’s

ordered calmly, “Bid higher,

“Right!”

bid of four million by buyer number seven. Do we have

Here comes the

is going even higher! We now have six

Oh, it’s higher than that! Bidder number one goes for seven and a half million! Any further bids from the

development. Her main issue at that juncture was a lack

“Since this painting is very important to you, perhaps we can shift the project

divert the company’s capital to my

but

knock of the gavel, and it was soon announced that bidder number one had

times more

in thought. Her mother had only painted under the pseudonym Nellie Nymphaea in her spare time. Despite being relatively well-known, she was not a particularly mainstream painter, and her works were not very popular either. Jeremy’s reasons for bidding such a high price for ‘Geese in Late Autumn’ could point

from the auction house came into their room to serve

here? How did you even get to sit in this room?” one of the female receptionists suddenly

person as Zoey, who had apparently taken up a job as a receptionist at the auction house

she spotted the handsome, well-dressed Aaron in a designer suit sitting to one side. She gritted her teeth in envy and yelled, “Bravo, Corinne! You made me lose my job, while you’re living the good life with

high-pitched voice was so frantic and loud that the entire auction hall could hear it. Over at room one, Jeremy had just walked out of the room and was about to leave

just started her probationary period, but she was already speaking rudely

of the auction house rushed over with several security personnel. He had Zoey dragged

out loud, “You’re a b*tch, Corinne! F*ck you!

occasion—there was no doubt that someone named Corinne was there. ‘That girl… She’s here? And she was the one bidding in room seven?’ He narrowed his eyes coldly

latter, and

Jeremy shot Aaron a

taken aback for a moment, then nodded with a smile. “Is there anything you’d like to talk to her

he said in a cold voice, “Tell