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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.

That’s just crazy!

"You’re not…buying this for me, right?" I asked for confirmation. I could never take anything this exorbitantly expensive as a gift. Not to talk about the fact that it was probably illegal to own most if not all of the pieces of art there were being auctioned.

"Of course not. I’m buying it for myself. Since you’re knowledgeable in art, I thought it would be good if I bought a piece that you like," Hayden replied casually.

Phew! I let out such a big breath of relief.

"That’s a real relief…you cannot imagine just how relief I am…" I said before smiling at him.

I guess I didn’t have to panic about it. It wasn’t like Hayden could easily win in the bidding. The people here were clearly abnormally rich and very aggressive in their bidding. Now that I wasn’t so worried about the painting that I had chosen, I could concentrate more on the other pieces of art that were brought onto the stage.

It’s so rare to see these artworks in real life. Many pieces that people thought had been lost forever were brought to the stage. Never in my life did I ever dream of seeing these pieces in real life. Although I couldn’t inspect them up close; it was more than enough for me.

Finally, the moment that we have been waiting for arrived. The painting that I had always admired and the one that I had chosen from the book was being brought up onto the stage. Without realizing it at first, I had started leaning forward in my seat as I tired my best to get a closer look at the painting.

To be honest, I wanted to get out of my seat and run on stage to gawk at the painting but I guessed that wasn’t really feasible or acceptable.

"Don’t worry. You’ll get to see it up close soon enough…" Hayden muttered, sounding a little bored.

"Really?" I asked with excitement.

"Yeah. I’ll hang it in my bedroom so you can see it," Hayden whispered in my ear before he winked at me.

"I don’t think you should bid on it…" I said with a shaky voice.

Everything here is too expensive. Sure, work of art like these are supposed to be priceless but still…

"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…