The Day I Kissed An Older Man

Corinne finally shifted her gaze from the television to Lucas. “Something I’ve been wishing for?”
‘Could it be...’
Lucas snapped his fingers, and the servants immediately brought in and lifted off the white dust-proof fabric covering the
painting.
Corinne’s eyes instantly lit up. It was the self-portrait of Nellie Nymphaea!
The woman in the painting was looking down despairingly, yet her body language showed an unyielding thirst for life as though
there was still something holding her back.
There were fine lines around her eyes and the two sides of her nose, so Corinne guessed her mother should be in her mid-
thirties when she painted this self-portrait.
‘If this is Mom’s self-portrait, that means she managed to escape from being killed after she left me with the Carews,’ thought
Corinne. She could not help but hope that her mother was still alive even until then.
Lucas’ expression subtly changed when he saw the painting. There were so many things he regretted when it came to his
mother. Being 10 years older than Corinne, he remembered much more about Emily than his little sister.
After a while, Corinne snapped out of her trance. She then turned to Lucas and asked curiously, “How did you manage to get the
painting in one day?”
She thought Jeremy would not give her the painting no matter what.
Lucas thought it was surprising too. “Things went better than I expected! I went to find Jeremy this afternoon, and after I told him
the purpose of my visit, he straight away ordered his men to bring the painting to me.”
Corinne found that incredulous. “Really? He didn’t ask for anything in return?”
Lucas shook his head. “Nope. He didn’t even ask for payment.”
Corinne frowned. “How can you not pay him? Didn’t I tell you I’d pay you back no matter how much it costs? I don’t want to owe
him anything!”

Lucas looked deeply into her eyes as he explained, “I did give him the money, but he said he didn’t want it. He even told me to
give the money to you since you’re the one who holds the purse strings in the relationship.”
Corinne frowned and pursed her lips. ‘Why does he still say that when we’re not together anymore?’
Wanting to draw a clear line between them, Corinne muttered, “Who wants his money? Forget it. I’ll just ask him how much he
wants for the painting and wire him the money later!”
“Do you need money from me?” asked Lucas gently.
Corinne waved her hand. “No. I have my own money.”
Lucas sighed helplessly. He really looked forward to the day when Corinne would accept his care and money since that would
mean she accepted him as her brother.
“Alright, then. I’ll go get the barbecue going and call you when the food’s ready.”
Corinne nodded. After he left, she picked up her phone again.
She hesitated for a while before shooting off a message to Jeremy.
[Mister Jeremy, how much did you buy the painting for?]
A minute later, he replied, [Not much.]
[Tell me now. I don’t want to owe you!]
[You don’t owe me.]
Corinne thought it was going nowhere, so she wired him a sum that she calculated by doubling the amount of money Nellie
Nymphaea’s previous paintings went for.
...
Meanwhile, a black car was driving along the country road. Jeremy frowned, and his expression darkened when he received the
money transfer notification for a huge sum. He did not even bother to click on the notification before putting his phone away.

At that moment, Tommy—who was sitting in the front passenger seat—turned back to report to him, “Mister Jeremy, we’re nearly
there. We managed to track down the suspicious guy who dropped off the letter for you to the location up ahead.”