The Wrong Woman

Jasper felt flustered and hastily attempted to deflect. "I could tell something was bothering you, and I figured it might have been related to the interview."

Imogen wasn't convinced by his explanation, which seemed full of holes. She questioned, "Maybe I'm just in a bad mood from a botched interview. How do you know I didn't even attend?"

Jasper fell silent, leaving Imogen staring at him, clearly baffled. He quickly shifted gears, making his way to the kitchen. "You haven't eaten dinner yet, have you? Let me whip something up for you." "Jay," Imogen called after him.

Jasper remained focused on cooking. "What are you in the mood for? Maybe some beef?"

"Are you really not going to explain?"

"I was just guessing."

Imogen let out a deep sigh, unsure of how to respond.

his study, deeply immersed in work, and retiring to bed

at Star Enterprise's HR department as planned. She breezed through her initial interview and was hired on the spot. The straightforward process and

a flourish. If it weren't for Star Enterprise looming large before her, she'd find it hard to believe any of it was real, including

onboarding to receiving her ID badge, everything was wrapped up smoothly in just a single day. It felt as though she was caught in

her to an adjacent, spacious building. Inside, the space was filled with mechanical displays and operational areas dedicated to the R&D department. In the R&D office, everyone was fully engrossed in their

to Gerald Levingston, the director of R&D, and casually dropped a

noticeable belly, scrutinized Imogen intently behind his thick

accepted Imogen's

from a prestigious institution by

his

resume back to Skylar, snapping, "I don't care if she's connected to some higher-up! I won't have such a 'specially recruited' slotted into my department. We're

the entire office turned to look