Even though Samuel waited at the entrance of Sunshine Group for one whole day, he did not get to see Suny. He thought that the woman was way too cunning.
Upon leaving Sunshine Group, he decided not to return to his company. He went straight to Odyssey to look for Alexander instead.
Alexander was invited to attend an auction that day. Although he did not feel like going, he was interested in something that would be up for auction. Anyhow, he did not expect to bump into Samuel the moment he stepped out of his office.
“Hey, Alex! It’s a rare sight that you get off work on time.”
Alexander, who did not even bother to look at Samuel, threw him a question. “Did you meet Suny?”
“Uh… Speaking of that, I think Suny is a ghost. I didn’t see her even after waiting for a day at the entrance of Sunshine Group!” Samuel exclaimed.
“You’ve seen her before?”
“It’s because I’ve never seen her that I wish to see her!”
“Pfft! How can you be sure she didn’t come out of the office building when you’ve never seen her?” Alexander questioned, feeling as though Samuel was a fool.
The latter had finally realized the issue, too. “Oh d*mn! I’m such a fool!”
Right after Samuel finished his sentence, he recalled Sophia’s words and added, “Still, your ex said Suny is gorgeous.”
Stroking his chin, he continued, “With my dashing good looks, I’m fully confident of dating her. That way, I’ll be able to avenge my grievance!”
After letting out a snort, Alexander fished out the car key and opened the car door.
It was also then that Samuel was brought back to the present. “Hey, shall we go for a meal together?” he asked.
Alexander, who had already gotten into his car, looked at him disdainfully. “Are you that free today?”
“Not really. Anyhow, I’m not as busy as you,” Samuel responded.
With a loud bang, Alexander slammed the car door shut.
“Hey-”
When Samuel came back to his senses, Alexander had already driven off from the parking slot.
Nevertheless, he trailed after Alexander in his car shamelessly, then got the latter to treat him to dinner. After that, he tagged along with Alexander to attend the auction.
Meanwhile, Sophia had long arrived at the auction room. She went there alone after dinner because Katherine had to record a show.
Therefore, she immediately caught sight of Alexander and Samuel when the two entered.
At that moment, she was sitting in the back row of the regular seat. It was obvious that Alexander had also noticed her presence because not many people were there yet. However, he only took a glance at her before heading straight to the box seats on the second floor.
Sophia raised her brows slightly at that. She then took out her phone and replied to Katherine’s message.
Jeez, I’m really out of luck tonight. I can forget about seeing Alexander here. The worse part is that even his troublemaker sister and pretentious first crush are here, too!
Thalia and Bethany, who had just returned from the sea, came in together. In truth, Bethany immediately acquired two admission tickets from someone else upon finding out that Alexander would be there, too. With that, she brought Thalia along with her to the auction room.
The two women did not catch sight of Sophia upon their arrival and made their way upstairs right away.
It was eight o’clock sharp when the auction began. The site was chock-full by then.
Sophia’s goal was clear. Her sole purpose for attending the auction was to bid for a piano named Amour.
It was handmade by a famous piano maker in the last century for his wife, who was a pianist. In the sixties, the man used up more than three years only to work on refining and tuning the piano. Unfortunately, his wife died of cancer not long after the piano was built.
Since his wife passed away, the expert did not craft any piano again. His children donated the piano to a museum after his passing. Due to poor management, the museum was shut down later on. A businessman from Chanaea then bid one million five hundred thousand in Anglandurn currency for the piano for his wife, who was a pianist.
After that, the businessman brought the piano back to his country. However, his descendants were all mediocre. His eldest son even accumulated a piling high debt after getting himself into gambling. The businessman’s wife had no choice but to sell off the piano at a low price to pay back her son’s debts.
The piano was not as pricey as before after being resold several times. In the end, it happened to be acquired by an auction house.
The story of the Amour’s origin was deemed worthy by the auction house. Half a year ago, they even started asking people to ramp up its price in the industry. They were determined to sell it at a high price that night.
Indeed, Amour was the sole reason Sophia joined the auction. Since she was not talented in music, she did not intend to bid the piano for herself.
The Chairman of Spritechnologies, who had already completed the migration procedure, desired to trade her shares recently.
Sophia wanted to acquire the shares in the chairman’s hand. Nevertheless, she was not the only person reaching out to the chairman. Therefore, she thought of obtaining Amour for the chairman to express her sincerity.
Her only target, Amour, was the highlight that night, so it was naturally a fitting finale to all the auction items.
The items auctioned off earlier were some jewelry and collector pieces of antiques. Sophia did not possess the appraising skills, nor was she interested in collecting antiques. Hence, she did not even pay attention to those items, and she merely lowered her gaze to play on her phone.
It was not until the clock struck nine that Amour was pushed onto the stage.
Sophia then exited the game on her phone. As she looked toward the elegant black piano on the stage, she pinched onto her auction paddle and fidgeted with it.
The opening bid for Amour was one million, and the minimum amount to raise the price each time was one hundred thousand.
Concurrently, Alexander slowly opened his eyes after the piano was pushed out.
He did not want to waste his time any further. Picking up his paddle, he decided to put a quick end by offering three million.
However, someone sitting downstairs was a step ahead of him. Before he could raise his paddle, the auctioneer had already hammered the gravel and announced, “Three million! This lady is offering three million!”
The crowd gasped the moment they heard the amount. Wow! The first bid is already three million!
Meanwhile, Samuel, who sat beside Alexander, clicked his tongue in shock. “Who’s the one placing the bid downstage? What a boastful manner the person has!”
He looked toward Alexander as he spoke, seemingly taking pleasure in the latter’s misfortune.
Alexander side-eyed him impassively and picked up another paddle.
“Three and a half million! A gentleman from the second box seat bids a price of three and a half million!” the auctioneer announced.
Sophia arched a brow upon hearing that. With a raise of her hand, her bid was then increased to four million.
Earlier, quite many people were interested in Amour. However, its price had been jacked up to four million by the two of them within seconds.
Many people thought it was not worth it to buy a piano that was priced at four million.
Therefore, several people who were ready to place their bid kept their paddle away at that. They only took pleasure while watching the two placing bids one after another.
As soon as Sophia offered four million below the stage, the man on the second floor bid five million almost immediately.
Oh my! He raised the price by a million at once! Who can bear that!
Indeed, Sophia was the one who could bear the cost. Nevertheless, she refused to be a sap.
The piano was only worth ten million even after it became well-known. If I continued bidding against him tonight, its price would exceed ten million soon. That’s simply not worth it.
“Five million, going once, going twice… Six million! This lady bids six million!”
Alexander thought that he could successfully bid five million for the piano. Much to his surprise, the woman down the stage continued bidding against him.
Furrowing his brows, he could not help speculating that the woman was hired by the auction house to raise the bidding price.
“Tsk tsk! The woman downstairs is terrific! That’s five million, but she didn’t even hesitate!” Samuel remarked.
He seemed laid back as he sat with his legs crossed, looking as though he was not concerned at all. Perhaps he would also munch on some snacks if he had some.
After knowing Alexander for such a long time, it was the first time Samuel witnessed someone bidding against his friend. How exciting!
He felt a little bored when Alexander remained still all of a sudden. He then nudged Alexander and voiced, “Hey, aren’t you planning to gift the piano to the Chairman of Spritechnologies? The piano will belongs to the woman downstairs if you don’t raise the bid.”
After giving Samuel a cold glare, Alexander raised the bidding paddle for seven million.
Everyone at the scene was stunned while the staffs of the auction house were so delighted that they almost burst into tears of joy.
Goodness, that’s seven million! We used slightly more than eight hundred thousand to buy the piano, but it can fetch such a sky-high price! How unexpected! It’s totally worth it!
Pursing her lips, Sophia fidgeted with the paddle. Eventually, she put it down.
Fine. It’s not worth it.
