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

bid, and they began wondering who the powerhouse behind the ‘number

to count, “One and a half million

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

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

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

frowned and wondered why Jeremy was still

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

calmly, “Bid

“Right!”

million by buyer

we do! Here comes the five-million

going even higher! We now have six million from

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 then. Seven and a half million,

at the development. Her main issue

you, perhaps we can

can’t just divert the company’s capital to my personal affairs. I’ll

no choice but to heed

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

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

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 high price for ‘Geese in Late Autumn’

beautiful receptionists from the auction house came into their

you even get to sit in this room?” one of

had apparently taken up a job as a receptionist at the

designer suit sitting to one side. She gritted her teeth in envy and

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

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

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

and yelled out loud, “You’re a b*tch, Corinne! F*ck

girl… She’s here? And she was the one bidding in room seven?’ He narrowed his

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

a Corinne here?” Jeremy shot Aaron a hostile

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

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