From far away, Luke beamed at Clarissa. There was a lot of courage behind that smile.
Clarissa had barely reacted when someone else offered a higher bid, “Eight hundred thousand.”
The bidder was none other than Joshua.
Clarissa’s companion got smug again. He lifted his chin and looked at Luke, deliberately provoking him.
Oh, honey. I can’t beat Rissa’s husband, but I can surely beat a player like you. Don’t you want a show? I’ll give you one!
Yaala put on a mysterious grin and cast a curious one at Clarissa, who rubbed her forehead in exasperation.
It was then that someone else offered an even higher bid.
“One million.”
It was Ryler.
He wanted to stir the pot.
Clarissa’s eyelid began to twitch as Luke went on to increase the bid.
“One point five!”
“One point eight!” Joshua called out.
“Two million!” Ryler went a step further.
The scene might be incomprehensible to many, but some members of the audience were beginning to get what was really going on. A few seemed to have spotted Clarissa, and they vaguely recalled her as someone’s fiancée some time ago. Moreover, she was a beauty!
The host kept going, “Two million! Pretty ladies do get special treatment, it seems! Does anyone else want to raise the bid?”
Did he say “pretty lady”?
That seemed to be the case. Other than Yaala, the award-winning actress, there really was another beautiful woman in the hall.
Is that Clarissa?
Some people were surprised to meet the real deal. They never really pictured how she looked like. A few of them even started taking pictures of her.
Two point one, two point two…
More and more people joined the bidding.
Eventually, Luke and Joshua were not the only ones competing for the manuscript. Clarissa simply could not understand what was going on. Initially, she thought that a hundred thousand for a manuscript might already be stretching it a little too much, so she definitely did not expect the bidding price to go up to five million.
Of course, unbeknownst to her, the tycoons were rolling in money, so to speak. Most importantly, they would do anything to please a pretty lady.
The bidding gradually became an intense bidding session. The host liked where this was going. He thought of inviting Clarissa to come onto the stage. Her presence would surely encourage the men to bid more. As the host, it was his job to get these people to loosen up their pockets.
“Hold on, ladies and gentlemen. Since everyone has been so generous today, why don’t we invite Ms. Quigley to come up here and say a few words? We can resume the bidding after that.”
“Sure…”
Accompanied by cheers and applause, Clarissa nervously approached the stage.
She summoned the courage to go up there because backing out was not an option.
Blushing, she got onto the stage under the watchful gaze of everyone present.
The tycoons in the audience got increasingly fanatic.
It was not so much because of Clarissa’s beauty that drove the men crazy. They had seen their fair share of beautiful women over the years, especially women from the entertainment industry, so they quickly got tired of it. Then, there were women who looked completely different without wearing any makeup on their faces. Those were really disappointing. On top of that, many of those women had long lost their innocence.
Today, they got to watch Clarissa go on stage in a flustered manner. Her pretty face, in addition to her apparent shyness and natural blushing, was not a common sight. The men marveled at the way she carried herself, and found that they liked her even more.
Up on the stage, the host requested her to give a little speech. What am I supposed to say?
Still blushing and feeling awkward about it all, she kept it short, “Thank you, everyone, for supporting this auction. And thank you for showing your love towards these children.”
“Ms. Quigley, I’m sure our esteemed guests will support you too.”
More bidding ensued after the host delivered an encouraging statement. When the price had gone up to eight million, he turned to Clarissa and suggested, “We’ve come this far. Why don’t you add something to the mix, Ms. Quigley? Round it up to ten million, shall we?”
Clarissa just stared at the host. What else can she add?
The host winked at Clarissa. The actress from the previous round has just auctioned off a day of her time to the highest bidder. Surely, Ms. Quigley, you can perform a similar feat.
But Clarissa persisted. The host found it quite regrettable.
Just when the host was about to pull the plug at eight million, a deep, firm voice stood out among the rest.
“Twenty million!”
Clarissa’s heart skipped a beat as she looked towards the source.
“Whoa—”
The crowd flew into an uproar.
The bid had gone all the way up to twenty million.
Even the host was stunned.
Twenty million was not too large a sum in an event like this. Any one of Olive’s masterpieces could have raked that amount.
Of course, that also depended on the item’s value.
So, the fact that Clarissa’s manuscript could exceed one million was nothing short of a miracle.
Yet, someone was willing to bid twenty million for it.
The host responded, “Mr. Tyson of Tyson Corporation calls for twenty million! Twenty million! Any other bidders? If not, then Ms. Quigley’s manuscript will go to Mr. Tyson.”
No one placed any more bids. It was then that some members of the audience suddenly recalled what happened three years ago. Wait a minute, Mr. Tyson had a fiancée, didn’t he? And she happened to be a screenwriter who went by the name of… Clarissa. But, didn’t they split up three years ago?
Later, Clarissa’s manuscript was sold to Matthew at twenty million.
The host then made a bold proposal, “On this wondrous occasion, shall we have Ms. Quigley present her manuscript to Mr. Tyson personally?”
Apparently, the host knew nothing about the scandal between Clarissa and Matthew back then.
Moreover, he thought he was mighty clever to have come up with the idea to have the two of them interact with each other.
He led Clarissa to hand over the manuscript to Matthew personally.
Clarissa gave the manuscript to Matthew, who accepted it calmly without saying a word.
The host could not bear it!
So, hoping to start a conversation, he began, “Ms. Quigley, do you have anything to say to Mr. Tyson? He spent twenty million on your manuscript, after all.”
Clarissa thought, Matthew spent so much on my item… Geez… Fine! I’m going to let this one pass since it’s for charity.
“Thank you.”
The host asked Matthew, “Mr. Tyson, do you have anything you’d like to say to the beautiful Ms. Quigley?”
“No.”
The host did not know how to respond to that one.
So he chuckled dryly and closed off the segment with a few words. He got back onto the stage and resumed the auction, but he never wanted to speak to Matthew again. Gosh, he’s so aloof!
In the meantime, Clarissa quietly returned to her seat.
She did not want to know whether the crowd remembered the love story between Matthew and herself three years ago, nor was she interested in knowing what the guests thought of them.
Clarissa remained silent. She did not know that Matthew’s scandal from three years ago would be brought up again that night.
The auction was on a break. An artist was performing on stage while the guests took a breather.
Luke walked over to sit beside Clarissa, a wine glass in hand. Joshua caught up to him and made it seem like the two were competing for her attention.
Ryler, who Clarissa trusted, swooped in to rescue her, joined by the two “envoys”, Jeremy and Yarick.
A few upstarts who were unfamiliar with Clarissa and Matthew’s love story also came forward to talk to her.
Hoho….
Faking smiles is a very exhausting job.
Besides that, Clarissa could also feel a sharp, piercing gaze boring into her back.
Fortunately for her, she did not have to go around talking to people because every other person in the hall, each with their own intentions, were coming up to meet her. Those who came to flirt or had ulterior motives were turned away by Jeremy and Yarick.
So, that was certainly an interesting scene.
Yaala came to pull Clarissa away from her fans, but not without teasing her, “Oh, Ms. Quigley, you’ve certainly bagged quite a number of suitors!”
“Ms. Zaha, stop it. I’m having a major headache now.”
“Why’s that? Being popular is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with women of charm and grace to be sought after. Never ever try to hide your charm just to please men. At any time of any day, always know what you want. Do not ever change yourself for some guy.”
As expected from a strong, independent woman like Yaala.
Such a bold statement! But… is it a resigned response to Henry’s relentless pursuit?
Clarissa dared not ask her about it.
While those men were still trying to strike a conversation with her, Matthew showed no interest to do the same.
Clarissa and Yaala had no plans to join them, whereas several women attending the event kept looking their way, their gaze curious and inquisitive.
The young actress who had auctioned off a day of her life was not only bold but very ambitious too.
One could not fault her for not contributing to charity, for she had just auctioned twenty-four hours of her time, but it was certainly not appropriate. Yet, the actress had the guts to do so and was not the least bit embarrassed about it.
By the end of her performance, she stopped to chat with a few other people before approaching Yaala.
She went to strike up polite conversation with Yaala. As someone new to the entertainment industry, she held the right amount of respect for the experienced actress, but something about her attitude towards Yaala made it seem like she considered the actress, who was several years her senior, to be well past her prime.
Those who did not interpret the young actress’s actions properly might consider her quite polite and respectful towards Yaala, but the more one thought about it, the more one would come to a terrifying realization.
Is she implying that Yaala’s getting old?
Listening from the side, Clarissa was not sure if she was overthinking it, but when she saw Yaala’s expression, which was cold and indifferent, she knew that her friend probably caught on to the young actress’ message too.
However, Yaala cared little for the newcomer’s act.
Clarissa thought that the young actress merely came to Yaala to announce her presence, but then the woman turned to her and changed the subject.
“Ms. Quigley! Oh, your reputation precedes you!”
My reputation?
Clarissa frowned, but the actress continued, “It was three years ago, I remember. I was still a student at the film academy. I went to audition for a role in “Princess”, and that was where I met you, Ms. Quigley. You told me my performance wasn’t up to par. What a pity, you said.”
So? Are you here with a grudge?
Clarissa did not remember the young woman.
“Is that so? I don’t remember.”
“Oh, but I do… Those were your most glorious times, Ms. Quigley. You almost married into a wealthy family! Hoho—”
Almost doesn’t count. It seems that this young woman is here looking for trouble.
