The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella)

Isabelle looked up and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She eyed the pamphlet in his hands and shrugged. "Yeah." Then she looked away again and focused on her laptop. But Jacob didn't miss her tone, and how her face fell at his question.

"And?" he urged.

"I didn't get the job."

"Oh," he mumbled, frowning. "Can I take a look at your resume?"

"Sure."

He took the document and sat back on the sofa. The more he scrutinised the document, the deeper his frown grew. From what he was seeing, it didn't make sense that she wouldn't pass an interview at the Larson Group.

According to her resume, she was a top student at her college and even won a scholarship after winning a design contest. That aside, she had recently won a design championship. Both were enough proof that she was a brilliant upcoming designer.

"Why were you rejected?" he asked after looking through her resume.

"Probably because I didn't pass the exam," Isabelle replied. But even as she said that, she doubted it. She had gone over the paper and her answers in her mind about a hundred times, and she was sure she had gotten everything right.

"Is that what they told you?" Jacob asked.

"No, they called and just said I didn't make it."

"That makes no sense," he said, frowning down at her resume.

Isabelle looked up at him. He sounded almost enraged about it.

"There must be a good reason to reject such a talented designer," he added.

Isabelle wondered how much he knew about the fashion and design industry. Or maybe he was making that assumption from what he saw in her resume. Either way, it felt nice that he thought she was good enough for the Larson Group.

Maybe that's why she found herself telling him the truth of the matter. "Actually, one of the interviewers, Ann, is a former college classmate of mine. We weren't the best of friends." "What do you mean?"

"While in school, I beat her to a scholarship. She has hated me since then. I think she might have a hand in me getting rejected." She pursed her lips and shrugged again. "But what's done is done. I can get a job elsewhere."

Jacob shook his head. "No, that's not right. If you passed the interview, you should get the job. Personal grudges shouldn't come in the way. That's very unprofessional." "Yeah, but...there's nothing I can do about that."

To hell with that, Jacob thought. To think that he had such an unscrupulous HR employee in his company who had put Isabelle through such unfair treatment made him see red. Who did she think she was to bring her personal grudge into his business?

As he boiled with rage inside, he made sure not to show it outwardly. After making a big deal of him and Isabelle staying out of each other's personal affairs, it wouldn't make sense to show how bothered he was. Besides, he couldn't do anything about it until the next day, so he decided to just go to sleep. Lying back on the sofa, he got comfortable and went to sleep.

As Jacob fell asleep on the sofa, Isabelle couldn't help but frown. He had said they should stay out of each other's personal business. Why was he suddenly so interested in whatever happened with the Larson Group?

Sighing, she let it be. It was kind of nice that he cared. Not that she wanted him to, she convinced herself. Either way, his words uplifted her as she continued sending her resume to other companies. She was casting her net very wide, so she was hopeful about getting called for interviews soon. Fortunately, Ann wouldn't be elsewhere to ruin her chances...

It was about an hour later that she finally shut her laptop, having contacted all the companies on her list. She was tired and wanted more than anything to fall into bed and fall asleep, but one look around the room changed her mind. It looked so cluttered. Cleaning it would surely make her feel better and have even better sleep, she decided, getting to her feet.

As she stretched, her eyes landed on Jacob, who was sleeping peacefully on the sofa. A small sigh left her lips as she took him in. He truly was a handsome man. The kind of handsome one would find in a movie star. And it wasn't just about his looks...there was something about him, how he carried himself, how he talked, how he looked at you... Something that made him so eye-catching and enchanting and made you want to just sit and give him all your attention.

Isabelle cleared her throat to bring herself back to the present. This was not the time to stand idly and appreciate her fake husband's good looks. In fact, there was no good time for that, at all. They were just a pretend couple. If she suddenly began entertaining such thoughts, lines might get blurry.

She wondered whether she should wake him to help her clean the house. It looked like a lot of work, but then again, he had looked kind of tired when he came in earlier...

His eyes shot open unexpectedly and caught hers. Her heart thundered at being caught watching him, and she was about to turn away when he asked, "Need help?"

She turned away either way, acting as if she hadn't just been standing there, taking in his looks. "Sure," she muttered, walking away to get cleaning supplies.

While Isabelle worked in the living room, Jacob got busy in the kitchen. She couldn't help but keep gazing his way, noting how serious he was about the cleaning. He was also quite good, and the kitchen was beginning to take on a spotless look. He cleaned the dirty dishes and put them away, wiped down the counters...she even saw him cleaning the microwave.

There was no way a man who was a useless idler, as the rumours had claimed, could be so organised. Earlier on, while asking her about her interview at the Larson Group, he had also proved to care about morals. If he was as unprincipled as people claimed, he wouldn't have been so bothered by Ann's behaviour.

No matter how she looked at it, Jacob was different from the picture she had in her mind about the Garcias' eldest son. She had worried how she would live with the kind of man she had heard about, but he was proving her fears pointless...

But then again, hadn't he been proving to be different from what she had heard right from their wedding day? Other than that time he tried to accuse her of being a loose woman, she couldn't think of another time he had done anything to irk her. Now that she thought about it, it made sense why he had made such accusations. If he had in any way heard anything about the eldest daughter of the Cruz family, it was safe to assume he must have heard about her sister's rampant flings. But it was okay as long as he didn't realise she was someone else...

And if that was the case for him, what if what she had heard about him was all untrue, too? There was a chance-

Her thoughts cut off as a sudden crash came from the kitchen area. Dropping what she was doing, she rushed to the kitchen to see what was going on.