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.

a half million from

they began wondering who the powerhouse behind

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

struck the gavel and uttered the

by surprise, and he spoke in a more excited

round of shocked 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 bidder

wondered why Jeremy was

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

“Bid

“Right!”

buyer number seven. Do

we do! Here comes the five-million

going even higher! We now have

it’s higher than that! Bidder number one goes for seven and a half million! Any further bids from the

main issue at that juncture was

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

her head. “No, I can’t just divert the company’s capital to my personal affairs. I’ll find another

had no choice but to heed her words.

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

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

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 bidding such a high price for ‘Geese in Late Autumn’ could point to two possibilities: Corinne’s mother was either someone he

auction house came into their room to serve

get to sit in this room?” one of the

taken up a job as a receptionist at the auction house after being fired by Alpha Enterprises.

sitting to one side. She gritted her teeth in envy

out of the room and was about to

started her probationary period, but she was already speaking

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

loud, “You’re a b*tch, Corinne! F*ck

And

latter, and he was about to close the

there a Corinne here?” Jeremy

a moment, then nodded with a smile. “Is

in a cold

his head to

came out from room seven and stared curiously at Jeremy. “Can I