"It's exactly because the night has been so eventful that I should treat myself to a present for having a hard day, " Lola disagreed. "It's not every day Harry is so generous. Since he's allowing me to bid for anything I want, I should take the chance to showcase myself in front of everyone. Otherwise, those rich ladies will always look down on me at socialites' parties!"
After hearing her daughter's perspective, Alia stopped insisting as well…
She could understand the reasons for Lola feeling that way. Even though the Staytons enjoyed a high status, her daughter was never popular among the socialites' circle. Whenever she attended one of their gatherings, she would always go home feeling hurt and in tears…
It might actually be a good opportunity for the woman to be seen. That way, those people would stop looking down on her in the future.
"The bidding starts now. The starting bid would be nine million with each bid increment being five hundred thousand!" the emcee announced.
The guests started raising their bidding paddles when they were certain that Zayn was not interested in the item.
Lola was one of them. In order to flaunt the Staytons' generosity, the woman bid in an increment of one million instead and managed to catch the attention of the rest of the guests very quickly.
She was feeling secretly delighted. The time had finally come for her to make a name for herself.
Carla was in no mood to carry on watching the auction and was about to try requesting Zayn again to leave…
However, before she could speak, he had already stood up and offered his hand to her. "Let's go out for a walk."
"Sure." She placed her hand on his palm and allowed him to lead her towards the exit of the hall.
Just like that, they had become the center of attention again. Even the auction was temporarily halted…
The event only carried on after the two of them left the hall.
Lola was extremely upset. She had to spend so much money to bid for an item, while Carla easily grabbed the attention of everyone without doing anything!
How unfair was that!
"Don't let that b_tch ruin your good spirits, " her mother reminded softly. "Let's leave after you win the bid for this item."
"The Browns have placed a bid of thirteen million… "
"Thirty million!"
Lola raised her bidding paddle and instantly became the focus of attention once again.
Consecutive bids during an auction would usually be in slight increments. However, Lola had straight away increased the bid by more than two-fold, which was very generous indeed!
She had done so not only for the pink diamond ring but also because the person bidding against her was Lena, a socialite from the Brown family. Everyone knew that Lena had fervently pursued Harry once upon a time.
Even though Lola did not dare to offend Zayn, she would never allow herself to lose to the Browns.
"Mrs. Stayton has placed a bid of thirty million. Thirty million going once, thirty million going twice, thirty million so… "
Lola had a conceited smile on her face, thinking that she was finally going to win the bid.
"Fifty million!" Lena suddenly exclaimed.
"You… " Fury coursed through Lola's veins when she heard that and raised her paddle immediately in retaliation…
"Mrs. Stayton!" Wenoma stopped the woman immediately and said, "Mr. Stayton has given orders that the highest we can go is fifty million. If it's anything above that, we have to give up the item."
"Why?" Lola asked, feeling exasperated. "It's not as if we can't afford it."
"It's not about money, " Wenoma lowered his voice as he explained. "It's mainly because Mr. Stayton had considered that if anyone raises the bid to fifty million and above, that would mean that the person really wanted that item. If we outbid them, it might affect business relations."
"But… "
"Fifty million going once, fifty million going twice, fifty million… "
Seeing that the emcee was about to bang the lectern, Lola turned frantic and immediately raised her paddle. However, Wenoma forcefully pulled her hand down at once. "Mrs. Stayton, you can't… "
"Get lost!" Lola pushed the man away furiously and yelled, "How dare you stop me! You lowly servant!"
Then, she raised her paddle again…
"Sold!" The emcee banged the lectern to end the second round of auction.
Her hand was frozen halfway in the air – she had become the butt of the joke once more…
A round of applause came from the crowd, congratulating Lena for winning the bid.
The woman smiled graciously at the rest of the guests while accepting their congratulations. At the same time, she turned around and shot Lola a provocative look.
Lola turned enraged, trembling with anger. She had made a fool out of herself even before the auction officially began. Then, she was humiliated by Zayn's subordinate outside the toilet. Now, back in the auction hall, all she wanted was to bid for an item to regain some of her lost dignity…
But she was being oppressed again.
She scanned the surroundings and saw that the socialites and wives of rich businessmen were all staring at her with mocking smiles on their faces. It was as if she was a clown!
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