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.

and a half million from

bid, and they began

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

second before he struck the gavel and uttered the word ‘sold’, Tommy raised his placard from room

and he spoke in a more excited tone compared to before. “Three million from bidder number

shocked gasps resonated through the hall when bidder number one raised the bid by that big an amount. Everyone wondered if the

and wondered why Jeremy was still

as her. “What in the world is

calmly, “Bid higher,

“Right!”

four million by buyer number

the five-million bid from bidder

number seven is going even higher! We now have six

we have seven million? Oh, it’s higher than that! Bidder number one goes for seven and a half million! Any further

at the development. Her main issue at that juncture was a lack of

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

my personal affairs. I’ll find another way to get it.

choice but to

sealed the deal with a knock of the gavel, and it was soon announced that bidder number one had secured ‘Geese in Late Autumn’ with a final price of six

times more than its original value. This

were not very popular either. Jeremy’s

from the auction house came into

get to sit in this room?” one of the

recognized the person as Zoey, who had apparently taken up a job as a receptionist at the auction house after being fired

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

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

had just applied for the job a day ago and had just started her probationary period, but she was already speaking

the auction house rushed over with several security personnel. He had Zoey dragged out while he apologized profusely to the bidder in

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 man gets

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 coldly and turned around to walk toward

the auction house manager away after receiving an apology from the latter, and he was about to close the door when Jeremy’s tall

here?” Jeremy shot

then nodded with a smile.

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