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

such a bid, and they

half million going once! Going twice! Going

struck the gavel and uttered the word ‘sold’,

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

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

wondered why

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

calmly, “Bid

“Right!”

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

Here comes the five-million

is going even higher! We now have

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

Her main issue at that juncture was a lack

important to you, perhaps we can shift the project funds to

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 it. We can

choice but to heed

the deal with a knock of the gavel, and it was soon announced that bidder number one had secured ‘Geese in Late

bidder number one spending six million to buy that painting at several times more than its original value. This merely showed that

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

there.” Two beautiful receptionists from the auction house came into their room to serve coffee and

get to sit in this room?” one of the

up a

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

walked out of the room and was about to leave when he heard Zoey’s screech.

ago and had just started her probationary period, but she was already speaking rudely to the VIP buyers! Her actions startled everyone at the

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

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! You made me lose my job twice now!

was there. ‘That girl… She’s here? And she was the one bidding in room seven?’ He

away after receiving an apology from the latter, and he was about

here?” Jeremy shot Aaron a hostile

a

said in a cold