"Welcome everyone to our exclusive auction. As always, we are your hosts for today. As I’m sure that everyone has attended this auction before or have already read the rules, I will proceed to the first item without any further delays..." the woman in the bright red dress said through the microphone.
We’re at an auction?!
Everyone was clapping as the first item for the auction was brought to the center of the stage. That’s the statue that was on the first page of the book, if I’m not mistaken. Wait...does that mean?
That can’t be. All the artworks in the book are either super rare, missing or stolen...
Or could it be?
Suddenly my hands and feet felt very cold as it suddenly hit me. Tell me this is a joke...
But if it’s true then, the reason why he told me to pick out something for him...
"The book...is for the items that will be put up for auction?" I asked in sheer disbelief.
"Yup," Hayden replied.
"You’re going to bid for the painting?!" I cried out loudly at my sudden realization as I whirled around to face Hayden.
I still couldn’t bring myself to believe that someone actually found the painting and it was going to be put up for auction here. However, the same logic applied to the statue that is currently on stage. Other people in the audience were rapidly bidding on the statue, driving up the price. The hosts were doing an amazing job of facilitating the bidding too.
"Shh...don’t panic, Malissa," Hayden said as he put a finger up to his lips.
I sat next to Hayden stunned as item after item were put on stage and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Every item ending at an outrageously high price. How many zeros is that again? Judging from the ending price of the other pieces, a knotted started to form in the pit of my stomach as I realized that the same would probably happen to the painting that I had chosen.
"Well then, we would like to start the bidding on this supposedly lost forever painting..." the woman in the red dress said in an alluring voice.
Hands shot up in the air as she read out the number of the bidder and the amount to reconfirm the bid. I gasped in shock. I never imagined that there would be so much demand for this painting. Apparently, many bidders had their eyes set on the same painting as we did.
10 million dollars. 20 million dollars. 30 million dollars...
Each time the price went up my heart beat faster and faster. This is just crazy. When will the bidding stop? So far Hayden has been sitting calmly next to me and hasn’t raised his hand once. I would feel relieved if he had given up on bidding on it all together.
It made me feel guilty that he was going to bid on the painting because I had chosen it even if he assured me that he was buying it for himself.
"100 million dollars..." the woman said.
Oh wow...100 million dollars...
There was a pause before a man put up his hand to raise the bid up to 150 million dollars. The hall was filled with murmurs as the bid seemed to have come to a stop. The painting’s price was very high now, but it wasn’t the highest compared to some of the past auctions.
"300 million dollars,"
A very familiar voice spoke up right next to me. Don’t tell me...
I turned to see Hayden with his right hand raised. My mouth fell open as I stared at him in absolute disbelief. He didn’t just bid on the painting now, did he?
"300 million dollars! I can’t believe it! Anyone else?" the woman said with a big beaming smile.
Obviously, there were no other bids on the painting. The other guests applauded softly to the winning bidder and as the ruckus died down, Hayden stood up from his seat.
--To be continued...