The Day I Kissed An Older Man by Cher the Cherished

“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 seven!”

see such a bid, and they began

“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 one.

a more excited

the bid by that big an amount. Everyone wondered if the painting would spark a bidding war between bidder number one

why Jeremy was

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

“Bid higher, Aaron!”

“Right!”

four million by buyer number seven. Do we have a

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

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

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, going once,

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

you, perhaps

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 let Jeremy

choice but to

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

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

was lost in thought. Her mother had only painted 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

came into their room to serve coffee and dessert.

here? How did you even get to sit in

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

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,

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

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

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

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

heard her 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

apology from the latter, and he was about

Corinne here?” Jeremy shot Aaron a hostile

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

said in a cold voice, “Tell her to come

turned his head to

and stared curiously