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.

a half million from bidder number

again astonished to see such a bid, and they began

“One and a half million

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

a more excited tone compared to

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 between bidder number one and bidder number

and wondered why Jeremy was still

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

calmly, “Bid

“Right!”

by buyer

Here comes the five-million bid from

number seven is going even higher! We now have six million from

have 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

issue at

to you, perhaps

raised her hand and shook her head. “No, I can’t just divert the company’s capital to my personal affairs. I’ll find another way to get

no choice but to

announced that bidder number one

six million to buy that painting at several times more than its

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

beautiful receptionists from the auction house came into their

are you here? How did you even get to

as Zoey, who had apparently taken up a job as a receptionist at

at Corinne in 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

room one, Jeremy had just walked out of the room and was about to leave when he

started her probationary period, but she was already speaking rudely to the VIP buyers! Her actions startled everyone at the venue and left an extremely bad impression on the

house rushed over with several security personnel. He had

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

was there. ‘That girl… She’s here? And she

an apology from the latter, and he was about to close the door when Jeremy’s tall figure

Corinne here?” Jeremy shot Aaron a

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

narrowed slightly as he said in a cold voice, “Tell