The Day I Kissed An Older Man novel Chapter 17

“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.

“One and a half million from bidder number seven!”

The audience was once again astonished to see such a bid, and they began wondering who the powerhouse behind the ‘number seven’ placard was.

The auctioneer began to count, “One and a half million going once! Going twice! Going thrice, and…”

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

The bid caught the auctioneer by surprise, and he spoke in a more excited tone compared to before. “Three million from bidder number one!”

Another 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 number one and bidder number seven.

Corinne frowned and wondered why Jeremy was still there.

Aaron was just as upset as her. “What in the world is Mister Jeremy’s problem? He’s just trying to flaunt his wealth!”

Corinne ordered calmly, “Bid higher, Aaron!”

“Right!”

“We have a bid of four million by buyer number seven. Do we have a higher bid?

“Yes, we do! Here comes the five-million bid from bidder number one!

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

“Do we have 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, going twice…”

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

Aaron suggested, “Since this painting is very important to you, perhaps we can shift the project funds to it for now.”

Corinne 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 keep it for now.”

Aaron had no choice but to heed her words.

Jeremy’s gaze turned cold, and his interest disappeared into thin air.

He looked at Aaron, nodded subtly, and said, “Sorry for bothering you.”

As Jeremy turned to leave, Tommy followed respectfully behind him.

When Aaron saw that Jeremy had walked far enough away, he reached into his wallet, took out a platinum shopping card from a luxury brand, and handed it to ‘Corynne’.

“Excellent acting. Now go and get your name legally changed. You’ll be known as Corynne from now on.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir!” The female receptionist happily took the card and recused herself politely.

Aaron closed the door and said, “He’s gone! How did you even meet Jeremy, though? And why are you avoiding him?”

Corinne said disgruntledly, “Well… I married him a few days ago.”

Aaron spat out the coffee he had just sipped and coughed violently. “What did you just say?!”

Corinne calmly explained everything that happened to Aaron, and he was surprised at first, but that look of surprise soon morphed into a wicked smile. “So… Did he live up to his name as the city’s Prince Charming on your wedding night? Mature men happen to be particularly loving toward their partners. At least, that’s what I’m told!”

Corinne rolled her eyes at him. “Do you want me to beat you to a pulp?”

She was never one to joke about beating people up, so Aaron hurriedly ran off. “I, uh… I’m going to the bathroom!”

Corinne got up from her seat and tagged along too. She went to wash her hands at the common sink while waiting for Aaron to come out, but as soon as she looked up, the reflection in the mirror caused her to turn stiff.

Jeremy had been standing behind her with his hands in his trouser pockets, and she could not tell if he was happy or angry to see her.

Just because she managed to escape once did not mean that she would escape all the time.

Jeremy walked up slowly to her. He had a lofty aura to him, and his unfeeling gaze seemed to be brimming with suspicion over who she really was. “What are you doing here?”

Corinne did not answer.

At that moment, Aaron was taking his sweet time coming out of the men’s bathroom. “Boss, the more I think about it, the more I feel annoyed at him! That man has enough money to choose whatever world-class painting he wanted, so why does he have to snatch ‘Geese in Late Autumn’ from us? It’s so irrit—” He did not have the chance to finish his sentence when he saw Jeremy standing in front of Corinne.

Jeremy turned his head to look at Aaron, then at Corinne. He narrowed his eyes and stared scrutinizingly at them both. “Boss?”