That night, Clarissa was in for a lot of surprises.
Joshua turned out to be an actual nobleman’s son. After Clarissa managed to get a handle on things, she suddenly realized that Joshua’s talkative nature was not that difficult to comprehend at all.
After all, his father was a foreign minister who depended on his eloquence to win the public’s favor. I guess Joshua’s talents must be some sort of alternative genetic inheritance, right?
And then there was Olive, Joshua’s mother.
Could Joshua’s artistic talent be another form of alternative inheritance too?
Clarissa had trouble getting it into her head that Joshua, her talkative and sometimes immature friend, was actually born into an upper-class family. Yet, he bore so little resemblance to his parents.
It looks like one should never judge a book by its cover.
After seeing Jeffrey off, Clarissa and Joshua walked to the front of the hall.
Clarissa understood then that the charity auction was held not just in the name of Olive’s charitable spirit. She got to know more about the complicated matters involved.
Clarissa met so many people at the banquet that night, some of whom she could recognize and some she did not.
Judging by the number of familiar faces, she could tell how important Olive’s annual charity banquet was to these people.
Ryler and Yaala attended the event together. A few other famous celebrities were present too. Clarissa went ahead to pay her respects.
Ryler raised a brow when he noticed Joshua next to Clarissa.
“Is he your new boyfriend?”
Clarissa’s mouth twitched.
Joshua’s eyes lit up. “Oh, Ryler! How did you know?”
Clarissa rubbed her forehead. Yaala chuckled, “You have good taste, Clare. This one looks tender and sweet. That’s good.”
Clarissa rolled his eyes, unimpressed.
“Can you please stop fooling around?”
Ryler grinned, “What’s wrong? Can’t we celebrate the fact that you have a boyfriend?”
Clarissa snorted, “Ryler, quit talking like that or I’ll pretend I don’t know you.”
Feeling threatened, Ryler gave in. “Fine. This one isn’t good enough for you anyway. Ditch him and find another. There’s bound to be one with your name on it.”
Yaala laughed at his statement. And while that was going on, someone held her by the waist.
Yaala froze and quickly wrenched herself free from the arms that held her, putting some distance between Henry and herself.
Henry feigned awkwardness after being pushed away like that. He glanced at Yaala’s stone-cold expression before turning to face Clarissa. Smiling, he greeted her, “Hi, Mrs. Tyson. Why isn’t Matt with you?”
“Is Matthew coming?” she asked, surprised.
Henry furrowed his brow. “Don’t you know?”
Clarissa went quiet.
All eyes fell on her, each pair just as curious as the next.
Joshua cut in, “Ah, let him come, Rissa. Just know that you’re my partner tonight. Don’t leave me stranded.”
Henry stared at Joshua, whose eyes seemed to be wondering where he came from.
Yaala ignored Henry entirely. She was more surprised to learn that there was something going on between Clarissa and Matthew.
In the past few years, Yaala had never asked Clarissa about her personal life, but it seemed that Clarissa and Matthew had not completely gotten over each other yet.
Yaala pulled Clarissa aside to talk in secret, while Henry held Joshua up. He planned to find out, on behalf of Matthew, anything he could about Joshua’s identity and background, and why he had the guts to court Clarissa.
Speak of the devil and he shall come.
Matthew made his appearance without a partner. His assistant, Donnie, was accompanying him instead.
He had not been dating all these years, and there was no news about his fiancée too. The public took it that the two had broken up peacefully.
Matthew surveyed the crowd when he entered the hall, and eventually spotted Clarissa.
Clarissa looked straight at him, but Matthew merely averted his gaze and returned to socializing with the other guests.
Clarissa frowned, visibly upset.
Yaala had no intention to interrogate her. She knew that they must be going through a blip. In the past three years, the two did not seem to be in any sort of contact, but that was probably how it looked like to outsiders. Could they really end things?
“Aren’t you going to talk to him?”
Clarissa snorted, “No.”
Yaala grinned. “I really don’t get what’s going on between you two.”
Clarissa went silent for a while before she spoke, “Nothing much. It’s a long story. I can tell you all about it some other day.”
Yaala shook her head. “Never mind. I’m not exactly interested. I’m just hoping to hear good news from you.”
Then, Clarissa sighed. “Ms. Zaha, are you really not curious at all? Well, this sucks.”
Yaala smirked. “You aren’t denying the fact that you’re expecting good news. So, I think I can probably guess what’s up.”
Gah. No wonder Henry has so much trouble vying for her attention. Yaala’s too smart for him.
It was almost time for the auction to begin. Olive stepped onto the stage. There, she was the epitome of elegance and grace. She did not have a grand speech prepared. Rather, she dove straight to telling stories of everything she had seen abroad and experienced in person. Everything she mentioned was neither made-up nor arranged by the media. Those were just too fake. Olive spoke only of true accounts.
Of course, the issues she highlighted were able to be brought to attention largely due to her influence.
Clarissa believed that great power came with great responsibility, and not everyone with huge tasks thrust upon them could handle them well.
Therefore, Olive had a great character.
As Olive continued her presentation, she showed some pictures of her cause, making her point much more convincing.
It did not matter whether the richer members of the audience were really moved by her, or they were just pretending. As long as they were moved, they were more likely to part with their money. And that was all that mattered.
Olive’s one-woman show went on for half an hour. After that, as the first person to auction her own items, she displayed one of her paintings.
The auction had officially started. Joshua whispered to Clarissa, “This painting has been collecting dust at home for ages. She came across it last night. And now these people are making a grab for one measly artwork. Ha, what a bunch of idiots.”
“You’re her son. Of course you don’t think much of it. But Olive’s a renowned artist. Even her doodles are valuable!”
“Ah, whatever. I don’t see how something like that can be of any value.”
“Can’t blame you for having poor taste.”
“Excuse me, Rissa! You’re saying I have poor taste? For your information, I’m highly sought after in the industry!”
“Being rich doesn’t automatically translate to having good taste, mind you. And you don’t need to shout. Let’s be honest, you and Olive aren’t on the same level. Can you please admit that?”
Of course, Joshua denied it. However, he did not want to go head-to-head with Clarissa about it.
He snorted and looked away, like an angry child.
Clarissa chuckled. She actually wanted to bid for Olive’s painting, but she backed down after the tycoons in attendance kept offering prices beyond her imagination.
Surprisingly, Matthew emerged as the first successful bidder.
Clarissa was happy for him. She wondered, did he buy that because he knows I like it? If that’s true, then Olive’s painting will be mine when I return.
Clarissa was delighted indeed. Next to her, Joshua huffed, “Just you wait, I’ll dig up all the dusty works of art from my house and give them all to you, free of charge.”
“Really?”
Clarissa’s eyes lit up.
Joshua was proud of himself for having thought of that. He waggled his eyebrows at her.
Clarissa could not suppress a chuckle. Joshua’s actions reminded her of Damian. Whenever he was praised or had done a good deed, he would behave the same way too, looking all smug and satisfied.
Unfortunately, at the time being, she could only see her son via video call. It had been a while since she met him in person.
She missed him very much. Before she had him, she never understood the emotional connection between mother and child, where they could not go one day without seeing each other. As a mother herself, she could see that children meant the world to their mothers.
Clarissa’s lips curved into an endearing smile, the sight of which managed to rub the smirk off Joshua’s face. He did not like where this was going.
Please don’t give me that look. My mother used to give me that look. Don’t tell me Rissa thinks of me as her son! Gah! No, no, no! Don’t go there! I want to be her man, not her kid!
Unable to stand her motherly smile, Joshua came up with an excuse to get away. He needed to shake away the thought of Clarissa becoming his new mother.
A while later, Clarissa could clearly feel a sharp gaze falling on her. She turned around but lost track of the source. Matthew, however, had just turned his head ever so slightly to speak to the person next to him.
Geez, quit pretending you didn’t see me!
Clarissa snorted. On the stage, all sorts of auction items were on display, each ready to go to the highest bidder.
Yaala had contributed one of her costumes to the auction. She urged Clarissa to do the same, “If you want to put your popularity to good use, why not add something to the auction?”
Clarissa pondered for a moment. “Alright,” she said.
She did not have anything of value, and she had not come prepared. So, she made a quick call to Yael, and they came to a decision. Soon, a manuscript written by Clarissa, the renowned screenwriter, was added to the pile.
The manuscript was not an ordinary one. It was the short story Clarissa had written for Damian when he was born.
The story had yet to be published. She had written it then to celebrate her son’s birth. It was just a simple fairy tale with a simple plot. However, because the purpose of the auction was to raise funds for underprivileged children, she believed that putting the manuscript out for bidding was quite appropriate.
Clarissa did not think her manuscript would rack up much, despite her name. It was just something she wanted to do.
On stage, the host began to introduce the next item, “Next, we have… a manuscript of a fairy tale, written by famed writer and screenwriter, Clarissa. She has won…”
The host went on to talk about the awards Clarissa had won before. Those in the entertainment industry might know her fairly well but the business tycoons probably did not.
The host was still halfway through listing Clarissa’s accomplishments when someone interrupted him to place a bid, “Five hundred thousand.”
Say what?
Silence fell as all who were present looked towards the speaker.
Clarissa was surprised too. She looked towards the crowd and realized that it was Luke who had made such a generous bid.
