How would they not know that I ran a school? That was basically all I did.
I nodded. "It's nothing too big. Not many know about it." I told him.
"That's quite impressive. How do you juggle both work and philanthropy?" He asked, a hint of admiration laced in his voice. "It surely isn't easy."
"It's not. But I'm used to it now."
Ethan studied me for a moment, his eyes softening.
"So, did you found the school yourself?" He asked me.
"No. I used to be a volunteer teacher at that very school. The original owner is the wife of an ex politician. She handed the school over to me because she was too sick to continue running the school." I told him.
"So you teach too?"
"Yes. It's a passion I discovered quite late. But it's never to late to follow one's heart, is it?"
I asked him.
He just nodded.
"I would also love to do something for your school. It's good to see that someone in the upper class society still cares about people other than themselves." He said finally.
As a waiter passed, he picked a flute of champagne for me and then for himself. I thanked him and took a small sip. I couldn't hold in alcohol so well, and the last time I got drunk I made a complete mess of myself. Now wasn't the place or time for it.
After greeting a few other people, it was time for the event to start proper and we all took our seats.
The host of the event was a famous actor and comedian, Larry Lin. He started off by introducing the sponsors of the event: THE Clayton's in collaboration with Sterling Holdings.
As the name was mentioned, I glanced sideways to see Ethan who didn't look moved. He just clapped like everyone else and stared at his watch like he would rather be anywhere else.
Larry Lin welcomed our guest star performance for the night.
"The legendary Toni-A!"
I had guessed right. On the huge stage, a grand piano had been prepared. I guess Antonia Gareth was going to sing her most popular song, the song that brought her to fame: As the Petals Fall.
Antonia was sitting behind the piano in a different dress and hairstyle for the performance. She looked radiant as always. As she sang the song, I hummed along because it was one of my favorite songs.
As the petals fall
And the wind blows them into my hands
It's you I wish to hold
To feel your warmth under my palms...
As I hummed, I caught Ethan Sterling giving me the side eye. I shrugged, letting him know that I was just enjoying the performance. He looked forward without saying a word.
After the performance, there was a standing ovation for Toni-A. Turns out, I wasn't the only one who enjoyed the song.
"That was a performance that never gets old." Larry said getting back on the stage and the audience agreed.
"Now, for the main deal of the night, the charity auction! Tonight, we raise funds to build a pediatric hospital in the middle of F City.
"Now, we all know how this is done. I have a couple of items you can bid for. The highest bidder takes the item. Are you ready?"
With a loud chorus and applause from the audience, the charity auction began. All kinds of stuff were being auctioned. From antique cars to books owned by famous people to famous art pieces.
As the people began to place their bids in hundreds of thousands of dollars, I began to wonder why I was invited. I didn't have any money to bid right now on any of these items. In fact the whole reason I was here was to gather donations in order to help my school. So far that was going well anyway.
Everyone kept giving me weird stares as to why I wasn't bidding and I was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
Like an answer to my prayer, the host ran out of things to place for auction so that kinda meant the event was drawing to a close. It was already 9:00pm and I was feeling exhausted.
The host was about to mention the amount of money that had been raised when someone came from backstage and whispered into his ear.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Larry Lin began. "It has come to my notice that our target amount of fifty million dollars has not been reached and we are out of items to auction.
"So, if I may, I will be selecting one of our distinguished guests who will be offering us his personal effect that would be brought out for auction."
Everyone seemed to agree to the suggestion. Then Larry looked around to see who he would pick. I stiffled a yawn with the back of my hand. Thank goodness this even wasn't held during the weekdays. How was I supposed to go through this and then make it to school tomorrow morning?
I turned on my cell phone and saw a notification on the screen, a message from Ellen. I let out a small laugh. She must be dying to know how things are going. I unlocked my screen to reply her message when I heard my name.
"Miss Leila Sanders, could you please grace the stage." Larry Lin called out in a loud voice.
I stood up hesitantly and unsure. "Actually, it's Leia-"
But the crowd had already stared to applaud so loud that it drowned out my voice. Larry beckoned for me to climb up to the stage. I left my seat and went up to the stage.
"We have the beautiful Leila Sanders on stage. Miss Sanders, we shall be auctioning one of your personal effects and I think it will be this...necklace."
I instinctively touched the necklace on my neck. There was no way I could give this up for auction. It was priceless.
I tried to protest." Uhm, anything but this necklace. It belong to the women in my family for five generations. I can't give it up."
The audience booed. They were booing now, wasn't that so childish. My eyes scanned through the crowd until they stopped at Ethan Sterling's. He wasn't booing. He was looking right back at me with an expression I couldn't decipher.
When the booing became louder and I didn't want to risk upsetting these rich and famous people, I quietly reached behind my neck and unfastened the silver necklace with a small crystal pendant, the most valuable thing I had and handed it over to Larry Lin.
"Four million." An actress offered.
"Four point five." Another person offered.
"Five point five million."
And so the bids kept coming. Just as Larry Lin was about to close the bid, someone else lifted his hand.
"59 million." came the calm and collected voice of Ethan Sterling. I let out an involuntary gasp. When it was clear that no one else could top that, Larry close the bid and the necklace was handed over to Ethan Sterling.
How did my necklace go from being not worth a few dollars to millions of dollars in the space of some minutes?
Larry Lin announced that we had met our target amount and the event was gradually drawing to a close. We were ushered to another grand dining hall where we were served a light dinner and wine. I had no appetite left.
I tried to meet Mr Sterling eyes. He would give me a questioning look each time like he had no idea why I was staring.
When I finally got back home, I got a call from Ellen.
"Hi Leia. Why are you taking so long to respond. Give me updates."
I sighed tiredly but still replied.
"Update number one, we go. Two offers for donations. Update number two, my grandmother's necklace just got auctioned for almost sixty million dollars."