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.

half million

to see such a bid, and they began wondering

to count, “One and a half million going once! Going twice! Going

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

bid caught the auctioneer by surprise, and he spoke in a more excited

of shocked gasps resonated through the hall when bidder number one raised the bid by that big an amount. Everyone wondered if the painting would spark a bidding war

why Jeremy was still

her. “What in the world is Mister Jeremy’s problem? He’s just trying to

calmly, “Bid higher,

“Right!”

of four million by buyer number

do! Here comes the five-million bid from

seven is going even higher! We now

seven million? Oh, it’s higher than that! Bidder number one goes for seven and a half million! Any further bids from the floor? No? Alright then. Seven

main issue at that

you, perhaps

just divert the company’s capital to my personal affairs. I’ll find another way to get it. We can let Jeremy

choice but to heed her

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

more than its original value. This merely showed that rich

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 to two possibilities: Corinne’s mother was either someone he knew personally or

auction house came into their room to serve coffee and

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

had apparently taken up a job as a receptionist at the auction house after being

shock, and before long, 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

could hear it. Over at room one, Jeremy had just walked out of the room and was about to leave

she was already speaking rudely

He had Zoey dragged out while he

sack that day, so she let all hell loose when she was taken away by the security guards and yelled out loud, “You’re a b*tch, Corinne! F*ck you! You made me lose my job twice now! It won’t be long before your

named Corinne was there. ‘That girl… She’s here? And she was the one bidding in room seven?’ He narrowed his eyes coldly and turned around to

latter, and he was about to close the door

here?” Jeremy shot

with a smile. “Is there anything you’d like

he said in a cold voice, “Tell