Although Reckless

Chapter 2

Serin let out a sharp sigh as she turned to see him holding up his paddle.

Apparently, she wasn’t the only surprised and bewildered person in the room. The entire room had been stirred by the man who had just jacked up the price.

Serin swiftly calculated the exchange rate. “Oh, crap,” she muttered. It was almost double the winning bid that Chairman Wang of the Shansa Group had paid at a Sotheby’s auction two years prior. Even though the ceramic piece had been put back up for auction purely to increase its value, this was too much.

The seller’s intention had been to auction it off to himself, so Serin wasn’t in a great position to let the price go up indefinitely. With the budget she’d received from Madam Song in mind, she raised her paddle again.

The man immediately made another, higher bid. <Thirty-five million.>

You son of a...

Serin barely held back her curse. Such a huge leap in price would lead the auctioneer to upgrade the pace of his suggestions. Her premonition proved right within moments.

<From now on, we’ll accept minimum increments of one million.>

The moment the auctioneer finished his announcement, the brunette glued to her phone call raised her paddle again.

Serin’s arm went up again, while her eyes glanced at the man. She inwardly begged him to keep his hand down as he turned toward her. With a dazzling, mischievous smile, he raised his paddle.

<Thirty-seven million.>

As the price took another big leap, the audience buzzed, and Serin became desperate.

“Miss Han,” asked Dongju.

His tone seemed to be asking for direction, as the bidding price had almost reached their budget limit, and his usually immovable poker face appeared to be at a loss.

Serin bit the bullet and held up her paddle again. Although the price had surpassed her expectations, she decided to keep going, since they hadn’t quite crossed their budget threshold yet. There were only three remaining contenders: Serin, the brunette, and that damn bastard.

While Serin met the man’s cheeky smile with a glare, something unexpected happened. The brunette pushed the price up even further.

<Forty million.>

Serin gasped, taken aback. The vase had rocketed past her budget.

Her lip began to quiver with shock, and she instinctively turned to the man. But against her expectations, he didn’t move or raise his paddle. Serin’s eyelids fluttered as she looked at the man in confusion.

What? He’s giving up now? After raising the price this much?

“Ma’am, what do you want to do?” Dongju whispered urgently in her ear.

She chewed on her lip while regaining her senses. Her mind was racing, and her thoughts were all tangled up.

<Forty million! Forty million in the room. Will anyone go higher than forty million?>

The auctioneer’s question made Serin even more nervous. She made a risky decision in desperation. “Tap into my account.”

“What? B-but...” Dongju stammered. Tap into her own account?! That was way over the line. “No, you can’t!”

“Mr. Choi!” Serin muttered in a tone implying that now was not the time.

Still, he wouldn’t budge. “No way. That’s too risky...”

“We’re going to miss out on that piece. We have to secure it at any cost!” she insisted.

“You could go to jail for this. You know how risky it is to divert your personal funds into a bid, don’t you?” Dongju warned.

“But—” As Serin opened her mouth to respond, the banging of the gavel echoed throughout the room.

<Sold! The ceramic vase goes for forty million dollars!>

“Oh, no!” Serin couldn’t breathe. While she had been arguing with Dongju, the ceramic piece had gone to the brunette.

Serin’s forehead fell into her hand as her shoulders slumped in disappointment. She felt as if she had just woken from a terrible nightmare.

As the host announced the end of the auction, the audience began to leave. Serin’s devastated eyes searched the room for her mysterious man, but he wasn’t there. That baffled her even more. There was nothing wrong with bumping up prices at an auction, but she couldn’t help but feel that he’d made a mess on purpose before simply taking flight.

“Who the hell was he?” Serin mumbled. She couldn’t think straight. She could only stare blankly at where the man had been sitting.

***

Serin was so distracted that she couldn’t even remember how she got back to her hotel.

It was said that when a shock was too great, one lost their sense of reality—and that was exactly how she felt. Her eyes wandered aimlessly, and her ears rang like buzzing bees. Her legs propelled her forward, but she was unaware of where she was heading.

All she did was replay the auction again and again in her mind, torturing herself, despite knowing that nothing would change. And that man. His face kept hovering around her mind. She wanted to put all the blame for her failed bid on him.

Serin knitted her brows, feeling disappointed in herself. As the man’s intense eyes crossed her mind once again, she was overcome with frustration.

Seriously, I hope I never run into him again, even by accident. I just can’t get him out of my head...

Serin gave a few tsks and shook her head. She stepped into the hotel lobby, trying to clear her mind, and asked Dongju, “Did you find out anything?”

His face hardened at her hollow voice. “I’m sorry, Miss Han. I pulled all the strings I could, but I couldn’t uncover anything. And the Sotheby’s office would only tell me that it was sold to a North American businessman.”

After delivering that one piece of fragmentary information, Dongju lowered his head apologetically.

“I assumed so. That woman was on the phone throughout the auction. She seemed to be bidding for someone else,” Serin mumbled.

Chairman Wang of the Shansa Group, a Chinese conglomerate, had also purchased the ceramic piece through a proxy bid two years ago. It was common in the art market for owners to put their items up for auction and buy them back in order to raise their valuation. Reluctant participants in that process usually had a proxy participate for them.

The two paintings that Serin had secured, and the ceramic piece she lost, had come under the hammer for the same purpose. In other words, Serin had been placed in a very embarrassing situation, wherein she had no piece to return to its owner because she’d failed to win the auction.

“We can’t help it. At least we did everything we could do. Thank you,” she said to her crestfallen secretary. “Tell the rest of the staff to ignore all phone calls from Korea. They should get a good night’s sleep at least for tonight. And you, too, Mr. Choi. You’re only obligated to answer my calls.”

The news that the ceramic piece was gone was sure to have reached Madam Song in Korea already, where she would certainly be fuming with indignation. Serin would likely be grilled over the phone the moment her flight landed in Korea.

“Very well, Miss Han,” Dongju replied politely.

Serin headed for the hotel bar instead of her room. She wanted to get wasted. She just couldn’t fall asleep without dulling her senses.

“Are you going to the bar?” Dongju asked, following her, and Serin noded.

She knew the underlying meaning of his question. It was an unspoken suggestion that she should drink comfortably in her room instead.

But Serin didn’t want to sit alone in her suite and pour herself a drink, especially when she was already in such a glum mood. That would only remind her of what a lonely, pathetic position she was in.

“I could use some noise to distract my mind tonight,” she claimed.

“The hotel bar isn’t as noisy as you might—All right, ma’am.”

Dongju had been cut off in mid-sentence by Serin’s glare. He decided to stop rather than being ordered to his room. “I’ll be sitting quietly over there,” he added, pointing at a far table.

Serin nodded and forced a slight smile. “Fine. Go ahead, and do me a favor. Relax and enjoy your drink, instead of counting how many glasses I have. Or just head up and get some rest in your room.”

Serin tapped his shoulder, stressing her last word, “Okay?”

Then she walked toward the bar. She slid into a tall chair and ordered strong liquor. <A glass of Calvados, please.>

While the bartender prepared her drink, she ate the almonds and peanuts served to her in small dishes.

<Here’s your drink,> said the bartender, placing her order down in front of her.

<Hey, are you here alone?> slurred a drunken man’s voice beside her.

Ugh, this eventful day never ends.

Serin turned to look at the blond man hitting on her with the smell of alcohol on his breath.

Bread always falls buttered-side down. Maybe today is just one of those days.

She hadn’t expected this kind of crap at a five-star hotel that cost over $20,000 a night.

<Are you Chinese? Japanese?>

The man was so drunk that he had to lean against the bartop to keep his balance. He was draped in luxury brands from head to toe, reeking of money.

<How much? Huh?> He continued to slur his words while pulling dollar bills out of his wallet. It was a pretty thick wad of cash, even at a glance.

“That’s not nearly enough!” Serin retorted, clearly annoyed. She shook her head toward Dongju, signaling that he didn’t need to intervene.

She was about to ask the bartender to call the hotel guards when someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

<See she’s got company now? Get lost before you get dragged out,> a cold voice warned.