The Billionaire's Pretend Wife (Isabella)
Chapter 21 Twenty One

On the evening of Isabelle's third day at the Larson Group, Seth appeared at her desk when it was time to go home. Isabelle hadn't seen much of him the past two days, besides when they had lunch together. Part of it was because she was avoiding him actively-even though Jacob had accepted her explanation about their relationship, she didn't want to risk another misunderstanding. The other reason was because they weren't in the same departments and were both busy at work.

When he appeared, she was gathering her things, ready to leave. Most of her co-workers had already left.

"I came by to see if you want to get off work together," Seth said when he got to her desk.

The request was innocent enough, she supposed, but she couldn't help thinking about the last time they had left the building together.

When she hesitated, he added, "I haven't seen much of you these last couple of days, I was hoping to catch up. You can tell me about how you're getting along with work."

She appreciated his concern, she really did. But besides what happened the last time he accompanied her, there was something else that made her think twice before accepting his offer. That first day they met at the flower shop, she had assumed he had long lost romantic interest in her after leaving college.

But each time they had interacted in these three days, she couldn't ignore how he looked at her, talked to her, and sought to spend time with her. She would be fooling herself if she pretended that his attention on her was only because they were friends.

Seth Holding was pursuing her again, and she didn't want to do anything to raise his hopes. But how could she tell him that no, she didn't want to get off work together? He had been so kind to introduce her the first day. Maybe she could accompany him for today, but after that-

Her phone rang at that moment, and she excused herself to take a look at it. She found that it was Jacob calling, and she stepped away to receive it. "Hello?"

"Hello, Isabelle. Are you off work yet?"

"I'm about to leave," she replied. "Why?"

"Come on, I'm waiting for you outside. I found a house near the company, I'll take you to see it."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

She hadn't expected him to find a house so soon. Finding a vacant place in the centre of the city was hard enough-finding a cheap one had to be way harder. He really must know a lot of resourceful people to be able to find one so quickly, she decided.

"Yes, it was quite cheap."

"Alright, I'll be down in a minute," she told him excitedly. She hung up and turned back to Seth. "Sorry, I have to rush. I'm meeting someone."

Seth could barely hide his disappointment as Isabelle gathered her bag and got ready to leave. Whatever that call was about, it had made her really happy-it had also robbed him of the chance to catch up with her. He had been unable to spend as much time with her as he liked the past two days, and he had been thrilled to find her at her desk. The previous day, he had come looking for her, but he had a meeting that ran late and by the time he got there, she was already gone. Looked like he was out of luck once again.

"Okay, I'll see you tomorrow," he replied, hiding his dejection. Right, tomorrow. He would do his best to catch her alone the next day.

Isabelle all but skipped out of the office, and it made him wonder who on earth she was so happy to see. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he walked over to the window and looked outside. From there, he could see the front of the building clearly.

A couple of minutes later, Isabelle emerged from the building and walked towards a tall man who was waiting outside. Seth watched as the two got closer, then the man took her bag and led her away. He felt disappointment crash his heart. Was he too late to win her heart?

***

When Isabelle met Jacob at the front of the building, she felt relieved that she hadn't accepted Seth's invitation right away. If they had walked out together only to find Jacob outside the building, there was no telling what could have happened.

After meeting her outside the building, Jacob led her to a small apartment not far from the company. The building looked quite nice, such that Isabelle began having doubts even before setting foot into the apartment. By just looking at the state of the building, plus its strategic location, she knew the rent would be very high.

But she didn't say anything until Jacob brought her to the apartment. She was tentative as she walked through the door, but as she walked into the living room, she couldn't help but gape in awe. The room was nicely furnished and decorated, and it looked more spacious than she had anticipated.

A quick tour around revealed there were two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. It was way much better than their current old house. Living here was not only close to her workplace, but also suitable for them since they would each have their own room.

That thought didn't last long in her mind, though, as the real problem resurfaced. A two-bedroom apartment in the city centre had to be super expensive. The smile that had been building on her face fell as she turned to Jacob. "How much rent are they asking?"

"The landlord wanted to rent the house out as soon as possible, so I was able to get it for three hundred dollars."

Isabelle looked at him as if he had grown a second head. Three hundred dollars for a two bedroom apartment near the city centre? No, that couldn't be right. Not even a studio apartment could cost that. "Are you sure?" she asked, looking around the apartment. "Three hundred bucks? Just that?"

"Yeah," Jacob replied. "I know it's quite low, right? We are lucky."

Isabelle sighed and paced around, taking another look at the furnishings, the walls, the fixtures. Everything was in good condition and clean. She would never believe the apartment went for three hundred dollars until she heard from the landlord. "Can I talk to the landlord?" she asked Jacob.

Jacob motioned to the realtor who had been around since he brought Isabelle to see the house. "Can you please call the landlord? My wife wants to confirm the rent amount."

The realtor nodded and then reached for his phone. "I'll make the call right away."

Once the man disappeared outside, Isabelle approached Jacob and in a low voice said, "I think someone died in this house."

Jacob looked down at her, feeling amused at the suspicious look on her face. "What?"

"It doesn't make sense that they would only ask for three hundred bucks," she said. "That's way too cheap. Did you ask around? I feel maybe they were unable to find a tenant because someone died here, so they lowered the rent ridiculously. We should talk to the neighbours before signing the lease."

When Jacob had made plans to rent the apartment and convince Isabelle that it was cheap, he hadn't expected she would be so suspicious. But he had prepared well in advance. Not only had he brought along one of his subordinates to act as a realtor, but he had also prepared the perfect reason as to why such a nice apartment was so cheap. Fortunately, it didn't involve any dead tenants.

But it sure was entertaining to see Isabelle get worked up as she tried to make sense of the low rent. If he let her get her way, he didn't doubt that she would really go knocking on the neighbour's door to ask whether someone had died in that house.

Her nervousness was showing on her face as she blinked rapidly and sweat appeared on her nose. She really must be quite superstitious, he thought. Without thinking, he reached up to wipe away the sweat on her nose.

Her eyes flew to his face instantly, but then the relator's voice interrupted them.

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