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

audience was once again astonished to see such a bid, and they began

and a half million going once! Going

and uttered the word ‘sold’, Tommy raised

the auctioneer by surprise, and he spoke in a more excited tone compared to before. “Three million from bidder

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

why Jeremy

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

calmly,

“Right!”

by buyer number seven. Do we have a higher

do! Here comes the five-million bid from bidder

higher! We now have six million

seven and a half million! Any

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

to you, perhaps we can shift the project funds to

my personal affairs.

choice but

and it was soon announced that bidder number one had

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

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 mother was either someone he knew personally or someone he

auction house came into their room to serve

get to sit in this room?” one

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

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

could hear it. Over at room one, Jeremy had just walked out of

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

over with several security personnel. He had Zoey dragged out while he apologized profusely

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! You made me lose my job twice now! It won’t

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

had just sent the auction house manager away after receiving an apology from the latter, and he was about to

here?” Jeremy shot Aaron a

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

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