WML-ASX

As a newbie to trading (and an age pensioner) , I bought WML shares @20c, as an IPO; and received stock in ARK (I understood there was to be a change of name). When WML went on the market , it was 14c, ...with such a huge discrepancy, does this mean I made a poor choice, or was the 20c price, set by people who sold at that price and then replaced them @14c....what i believe is called shorting.....can anybody explain this to me.
I contacted the secretary who simply said it was people selling at a loss....how may thousands of people would have assumed (like me) would have assumed the opening price would be a minimum of 20c....or why would they bother to buy at that price.