“I offer ten million for this painting!” No sooner had the auctioneer’s words fallen than Christopher doubled the price in the blink of an eye. I silently counted how many zeros were in ten million before nudging him lightly and whispered, “Why are you offering so much money when I drew this myself? We can’t be buying it and hanging it at home, can we?”
“Your painting is priceless to me.” Christopher flashed me an indulgent smile.
“Anyway, stop bidding on it, okay?” The moment my words fell, someone called out a bid of fifteen million, so Christopher again hollered, “Twenty million!”
At that, I shot him a glare. Argh! This man is truly spending frivolously! ”If you really think that you’ve got too much money, you can give it to me. I’ll help you deposit it in the bank. And if you like it so much, I’ll paint you a replica of it back home.”
“Nope. I want this one.” Christopher winked at me, causing the mole at the corner of his eye to twitch, giving him a devilish and nonchalant air. “You told me there are two vague silhouettes in the shadows that represent us, so I naturally have to take it home and treasure it. I’m not going to allow anyone else to take it away.”
“Thirty million!” As the familiar voice drifted into my eyes, I couldn’t help shifting my glance to Isabelle. She had her back to me and didn’t look back either, sounding as though she was speaking of something unremarkable. At that turn of events, my brows furrowed.
“Forty million!” Christopher upped the bid without the slightest hesitation. When the people around saw that the price had gone so high, they all zipped their mouths. They were only attending the auction to join in the fun and donate some money to gain a good reputation in the first place, so if someone took things seriously, they wouldn’t simply poke their noses into it.
“Fifty million!” Isabelle raised the bidding paddle in front of her.
“Sixty million!” Christopher murmured mildly.
When he had raised the price to eighty million, I tugged at his sleeve. “Forget it, Chris. Don’t increase the bid anymore since she wants to buy it. The Goldstein family doesn’t lack money anyway.”
“I sense that you don’t want her to get the painting.” Christopher handed me the bidding paddle. In other words, he was handing the decision to me.
Lifting my head, I glanced at Isabelle. She was also looking in my direction, and her smile turned affectionate when she saw me gazing at her. In the end, I put down the bidding paddle and said to Christopher, “You’re right. I shouldn’t be sulking since she’s my mother at the end of the day. I’ll go and look for her later after the auction has ended.”
Upon hearing that, Christopher flashed me a pleased smile. “I’ll go with you.”
In the dim banquet hall, only the lights on the huge platform flickered. All the other works that were auctioned after that were by renowned painters. The longest painting was three meters long and was auctioned off at a sky-high price of a hundred and fifty million. It was none other than Ansley’s painting.
“Congratulations on such tremendous success, Ms. Tanner!”
“Hear, hear! Hawen is truly blessed to have an outstanding young artist like you, Ms. Tanner. Please rest assured that we’ll be using the money appropriately. All the money will be donated to schools in the impoverished mountainous areas to build primary schools. For every payment, we’ll be sending you the accounts records for your perusal.”
“You flatter me. As a fellow citizen, I’m also very glad that I get to contribute to the country.” I then signed the donation form. When all the works were auctioned off and the lights in the banquet hall lit up, I suddenly noticed that Mark and Isabelle had already walked over to the entrance.
I hastily pushed the person in charge of Cross Organization who wanted to take a photo with me away and dashed out the banquet hall. Just then, a low-key Ferrari drove past me. I glimpsed Isabelle in the passenger seat and wanted to call out to her, but the car was already speeding toward the corner, giving me zero chance of speaking.
I stood rooted to the spot for some time as a bitter smile born of helplessness hovered over my lips. When Christopher caught up to me, I shrugged at him. “She has left, Chris. We should go back as well.”
I had no idea why my mother didn’t stay to meet me, but I had also lost the courage to chase after her once more. The distance between us was negligible, but it seemed as though we were no different from before. It’s difficult for me to even see catch a glimpse of her.
The next day, I insisted on going back to Hawen. Seeing my resolution, Christopher asked his assistant to book flight tickets back. After boarding the flight, I suddenly saw a news report of a shooting with Isabelle’s photo attached. All at once, my heart skipped a beat.
