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 from bidder number

once again astonished to see such a bid, and they began wondering who the powerhouse behind the ‘number

half million going once! Going

he struck the gavel and uttered the word ‘sold’, Tommy

auctioneer by surprise, and he spoke in a

hall when bidder number one raised the bid by that big an amount.

and wondered why

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

ordered calmly,

“Right!”

by buyer number seven. Do we

comes the

seven is going even higher! We now have six million

that! Bidder number one goes for seven and a half million! Any further bids from the floor? No? Alright then. Seven

was annoyed at the development. Her main issue at

perhaps we can shift the project

hand and shook her head. “No, I can’t just divert the company’s capital to my

had no choice but to

that bidder number one had secured ‘Geese in

six million to buy that painting at several times more than its original value. This merely showed that rich people could

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

Two beautiful receptionists from the auction house came into their room

get to sit in this room?” one of

the person as Zoey, who had apparently taken up a job as

stared 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

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 when he heard Zoey’s screech. He halted his footsteps at once and

already speaking rudely to

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

was almost certainly heading for the 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!

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

after receiving an apology from the latter, and he was about to close the door

here?” Jeremy shot Aaron a hostile

a smile. “Is there

slightly as he said in a