Checking In

"Huh? Whom are you talking about?" Asher was confused by Emma's actions. He followed Emma's gaze but couldn't find anyone who could unleash such a reaction from Emma.

He looked at Emma who was trying to hide behind him and suppressed his urge to question her.

'She must have had a reason' Asher thought as he assisted Emma by taking her away from the center.

Emma breathed a sigh of relief as she finally got away from that man. The presence of that person here was unusual. But it could indicate a lot of things.

"Care to share?" Asher lightly asked after Emma had calmed down a bit.

Emma glanced at him but didn't elaborate. She couldn't trust Asher with her secret.

The man she had just saw was her Grandfather's assistant, Gary Hartfield. She was disturbed by his presence at this auction as he was supposed to be with her Grandfather.

'Why is he here?' Emma bit her nail as she pondered. She couldn't attend the auction when Mr. Gary was present as her grandfather would know.

Suddenly, a bout of shock came over her. 'Di- Did Kale tell him?' She wanted to deny it but still could not rule out the possibility.

Although she trusted Kale not to snitch on her, he was her grandfather's student and was loyal to him. It wouldn't be surprising if he chose to side with her grandfather.

But it didn't seem like Mr. Gary was here to get her. He wasn't trying to actively look for someone. Rather he was pretty relaxed.

If she remembered correctly, she and Asher stood before the ticket collection desk.

'Is he here to attend the auction?' Emma speculated as she tried to find Mr. Gary while still hiding behind Asher.

'Why would he be attending the auction?' Emma tried to reason but her thoughts were a mess. She wanted to find the purpose of Mr. Gary's presence here. However, she couldn't just go ahead and ask him.

For the time being, she only decided to observe his actions from a distance. She quickly sorted out her emotions and put on a mask of indifference.

She covered her inner turmoil with a layer of confidence. That was what she was an expert in. She always masked her violent emotions with an arrogant exterior.

She inhaled deeply and looked up at Asher who was looking for someone. Slightly narrowing her grey eyes, she checked his actions.

Her intense staring caught Asher's attention as he glanced back at Emma, a slight smile gracing his lips as he looked at her.

"Controlled your emotions?" Asher asked as he tucked in a stray strand behind her ear. It seemed that he really liked her hair. Emma thought as she distanced herself from Asher.

She still hadn't forgotten the despicable deeds of this con man. He made her run up 10 floors when they had a lot of time and could easily come up before 9.

"None of your business," Emma scoffed at his faked concern. She wasn't going to fall for his kind exterior while his insides were rotten and shameless.

Asher didn't mind her harsh tone and laughed. "Let's get ourselves checked in. Shall we?"

Emma harrumphed but still went along with him. She didn't want him to ditch her. In that case, her purpose for coming here would be unfruitful.

"Hello, Sir. Hello, Miss. Can you kindly share which one of you is the ticket owner?" A beautiful blonde with deep red lipstick asked courteously.

Emma was traumatized by blondes since Max and looked unkindly at Asher as he handed over his pass.

To her surprise, Asher didn't take extra care of his pass and had casually stuffed it inside his pocket.

Emma was stunned by his carelessness as they had just witnessed the horrors of careless behavior an hour ago.

Asher caught her gaze on him and winked. The girl processed the ticket and passed it through the scanner 3 times before saying, "Sir, your pass is only effective if you have a plus one. Can I trouble you to answer if this young lady with you is your plus one?"

Emma's mouth hung wide open at her words. She was shocked beyond fixation at the utterance.

It meant that if she were to refuse to accompany him to the auction, his pass would be useless.

And this shameless man dared to hold his "great" act of selflessness above her head since earlier this morning, forcing her to unwillingly express gratitude for his good deed to allow her to accompany him.

Emma gritted her teeth wishing it was a certain someone's neck between her teeth. She could not believe that she had been once again played by this fraud of a man.

She looked away from him not wanting to corrupt her eyes by beholding his unashamed behavior.

Asher grinned, showcasing his whole set of white teeth, not in the least looking guilty. Instead, he felt proud of his achievement, unaware of the danger standing next to him.

Emma pursed her lips with anger. Suddenly, she smiled beautifully and grabbed Asher's hand coquettishly.

Asher was astonished at the development but didn't make a move to let go of the small warm hand.

'Wait and watch how I slice you open while pretending to be a dull knife.' Emma's inner thoughts were the stark opposite of her outside actions.

"You would be right miss. I'm indeed his plus one." Emma answered in a honeyed voice as she looked at Asher with stars in her eyes.

Asher's back was submerged in a cold sweat when Emma gazed at him affectionately. He knew that his retribution had come upon him as he stared at Emma.

But thinking deeply, he concluded that he wasn't too worried about it as he could handle Emma with a single hand.

And it wasn't too bad having Emma behave so lovingly with him as well. So, he became calm and relaxed.

The blonde girl processed the pass and handed over a key to Asher. "Have a pleasant stay, sir. And please sign this." She said handing over a thick stack of documents to Asher.

Asher signed it and some pages required Emma's signature as well. Emma didn't cause a ruckus and silently signed along with Asher.

"Thank you, sir. The auction starts at 9. You can head over to our rest lounge and take a rest or you can go to your room and freshen up. You'll be informed when the auction is about to begin." The girl professionally informed them and went back to another couple checking their passes in.

Before Emma could ask Asher what to do now, she heard Asher ask, "Can I have my pass back?"

Emma was taken aback by his question. Weren't they supposed to hand them in when they checked in? She saw many people leaving their passes with the check-in team.

The blonde didn't say anything and handed over the pass. Asher discreetly pushed the pass into his pocket and took Emma with him.

When they were away from the crowd, Emma couldn't keep her curiosity and asked, "Why did you ask for your pass back?"

Instead of answering, Asher lightly shushed her. Emma got his hint and went quiet.

The last thing she wanted to do was get them in trouble because she could not keep her mouth shut.

They soon arrived at their designated room and Asher got in followed by Emma.

Emma was surprised by the luxurious room. Although her cabin itself was luxurious it was no match for this room.

She scanned the room only to find a single king-sized bed with no sofa in the room.

Emma's gaze became troubled and lightly bit her lip wanting to confront Asher about sleeping arrangements but felt that it was too soon to draw any conclusion so she decided to swallow back her unapproval.

Asher surveyed the room and checked for any hidden cameras or microphones.

Emma was startled as he took out a microphone detector device from the inside of his coat and began scanning every item in the room.

When he was satisfied with his investigation, he went to the bathroom to repeat the same process.

He came back with 3 small pinhole cameras and 7 microphones. Emma wasn't surprised as she had somewhat expected to find such things when Asher took out his equipment.

After successfully getting rid of them, Asher said, "If I didn't, we would not be allowed to enter the auction." He calmly replied to the question Emma had asked in the hallway.

"But most of the people left their tickets after checking in." Emma was learning new things ever since she came out with Asher.

Asher patiently explained. "This is a way to reduce the number of common people who were lucky enough to get a pass but lack sufficient funds before the auction begins. Wait for the auction to begin. It will all make sense to you then."

"Here you are being watched every second, your conversations are being recorded and your actions are noted down." Asher sat on the bed and began to take off his shoes.

"This silent auction is not as it seems."

Emma gazed at him and felt that she never knew this man.