“So what if I’m reckless? I can do whatever I please,” Luther grinned. He spoke without a trace of bashfulness that it made Helen speechless.
“Easy for him to say when Fabian is the one who’s actually paying for it,” Jason spoke straightforwardly. “He clearly doesn’t care for the teapot, so he’ll probably resell it once he grows tired of it. After all, this is the mindset he used to prosper his fortune.”
Hearing this, Helen now frowned at Luther. All that big talk of yours… and you’ve just been using my brother-in-law’s money?
Luther’s ears burned a bright red from embarrassment. He chuckled dryly and explained, “It’s beyond my control. Your brother-in-law is so prideful that he insists on paying for every auction, even I can’t convince him otherwise.”
His voice squeaked softly for fear that Fabian was listening to what he said.
Helen pursed her lips, wanting to call out Luther’s pathetic excuse. However, the auctioneer’s following words seized her complete attention, and she couldn’t help but look over to the stage.
“Alright, this next item is rare. There are only a few of them in this world, so you can even say it’s the pinnacle of tonight’s event. Want to know what it is? Please wait for it,” the auctioneer teased the audience with a playful smile.
She gently patted the black cloth that draped over the mystery item, building the audience’s interest in it.
“I wonder what could it be? That’s a really vague intro though.”
“Let me guess. It’s some limited-edition item?”
“Oh, hurry up with the answers! You’re killing us with the suspension.”
…
Fabian glanced at the covered object on the stage, thinking that it seemed small. Then he turned to face Hannah and asked, “Can you guess what it is?”
“Guess? How can I guess if there’s a black cloth over it? They didn’t even give a single clue.”
Hannah felt an oncoming headache just from considering the possibilities of what the item was. Giving up, she figured that Fabian was probably joking with her.
“Would you believe that it’s a necklace?” Fabian asked confidently after pondering at the item’s enlarged image on the display screens.
“You can tell just from that? I don’t believe you.”
Hannah shook her head. She had scrutinized every inch of the screen and still couldn’t figure out what the mystery item was, so she refused to believe that Fabian could tell it was a necklace. Unless he has X-ray vision, he must’ve been blindly guessing.
“Let’s make a bet,” Fabian suggested as his lips curled into a sly grin.
“Alright, let’s do it. It’s not like I’m afraid of you,” Hannah retaliated.
I’m gonna win this bet for sure. Most things can be auctioned, so there’s no telling what the mystery item is. Thus, the chances of him guessing correctly is one in millions, and I don’t believe he’s that lucky.
“Aren’t you going to ask what the stakes are?” Fabian chuckled amusedly at her.
“You decide,” Hannah replied without hesitation.
He’s playing a losing game because I’ll win regardless. My situation is so favorable that it won’t matter what the stakes are.
“Good. This will be the condition of our bet; the loser must agree to anything the winner wants. They must complete the winner’s request, no matter what it is.” Fabian’s eyes gleamed with a mischievous glint as he stated the condition.
Although this initially unnerved Hannah, she still felt certain that she would win the bet and avoid this penalty altogether. Better yet, she would use the condition to stop Fabian from forcing himself onto her.
So she agreed to his condition, “Alright then, whatever you say.”
“Hey, can you count me in?” Jason hurriedly spoke up after overhearing their bet.
“Don’t forget about me,” Helen chimed in too.
Luther stiffened in his seat. He wanted to join in but was uneasy about losing the bet, especially since Fabian had never once suffered a loss. He also considered betting on Fabian to win. However, he didn’t quite believe that Fabian actually knew what the mystery item was. Annoyance prickled inside his mind as he thought, What a dumb game. How can anyone guess what the item is if it’s concealed?
“Count me in!” Luther caved in and spoke through gritted teeth at Fabian.
“…” Hannah held her breath. She was dumbstruck that everyone took so much of an interest in the bet.
Almost instantly after he asked to join, Luther interjected whilst facing Fabian, “Forget it, I’m not betting…”
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to anymore, but because he was startled by Fabian’s eyes that looked like dark pools of animosity.
