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 number

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

count, “One and a half million

gavel and uttered the

and he spoke in a more excited tone compared

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 between bidder number one and bidder

frowned and wondered why Jeremy was still

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

ordered calmly, “Bid

“Right!”

four million by buyer

we do! Here comes the five-million bid from bidder number

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

it’s higher than that! Bidder number one goes for seven and a half million! Any further

was annoyed at the development. Her main issue at that juncture was a

suggested, “Since this painting is very important to you, perhaps we can

capital to my personal affairs. I’ll find another

choice but to heed her

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

at several times more than its original value. This merely showed that rich people could do whatever they

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

the auction house came into

get to sit

taken up a job as

well-dressed Aaron in a designer suit sitting to one side. She gritted her teeth in envy and

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

speaking rudely to the VIP buyers! Her actions startled everyone at the venue and left an extremely

several security personnel. He had Zoey dragged out while he apologized profusely to the

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

crystal clear on that 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

from the latter, and he was about to close the door when Jeremy’s tall figure appeared right in

there a Corinne here?” Jeremy shot Aaron a hostile

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

eyes narrowed slightly as he said in a cold