Piercing Hatred | ✔️

2

~Flora's POV~

When I woke up the next morning, I began to get ready for my first day of work at Interstellar, trying to be as quick in the shower as I could.

I stepped out after I was finished and wrapped myself in a towel to dry off, pulling on a pair of undergarments before returning to my room. My dark brown hair, the color bordering on black due to its wetness, fell to my shoulders and had thin blonde highlights in the front. Because it was so short, I didn't bother to try to dry it or brush it out because I knew it'd be dry before I'd even be ready to leave.

While my hair dried, I applied the bit of makeup that I always did, which was simply a bit of mascara, concealer, highlight and lastly I filled in my arched brows. I shifted my septum piercing as I noticed that it had tilted, the horseshoe shaped piercing glinting when the silver caught the light. By the time I finished doing my minimal amount of makeup, my hair was practically dry, so I quickly ran a brush through the strands. I entered my closet afterwards, searching for something to wear.

Once I was dressed and ready to go, I set off towards Interstellar, using the GPS since I wasn't at all familiar with the location of it. I'd never even driven by it despite the fact that I'd lived here in Cheyenne, Wyoming for my entire life. At least, I hadn't from what I could remember.

Thankfully, the drive only ended up being about ten minutes before I arrived, parking my car in the mostly empty lot. I was pretty certain the other cars belonged to other employees. When I entered the clothing store, I was hit with the faint scent of vanilla, which surprised me a little bit. It smelled rather nice inside, and the interior was much more modern than I had been expecting it to be from its quaint exterior.

"Hi!" A voice chirped as I was looking around, causing me to jolt in surprise and glance over my shoulder. "I'm guessing you're Flora? We spoke on the phone yesterday. I'm Odette." The small woman before me said, and I easily recognized her soft voice as the one I'd heard over the phone just the day before. I relaxed a little bit, feeling a bit more comfortable. "Yeah, that's me." I smiled at her, though I was still being eaten at with nerves. The last thing I wanted to do was somehow screw up on my first day, and I was scared I'd find a way to do just that.

Odette smiled at me and gestured for me to follow her before the turned around, leading me through the clothing store. I trailed closely behind her, listening intently as she explained where certain items would be stocked and when I would need to put out items. I learned that Odette was the owner's daughter and she had been working here for only the past five months, which had me a little bit nervous but she seemed nice enough.

"You'll be working in the back for today, unpacking the new items that we got yesterday morning. When you unpack them, just make sure that you put them in the correct places in the back, so it'll be easier for you to move things around when re-stocking." She instructed me, leading me through a door that was at the back of the store. I nodded my head and murmured my quiet affirmation to let her know that I understood, the door swinging shut gently behind us. "You can start with these boxes for now," Odette told me, gesturing towards some smaller boxes that were next to a wall by the back door that I assumed the boxes had been brought in from. "And you should have someone coming in shortly to help you out, so you don't have to do it all on your own." She added, lowering her voice to a grumble when she spoke. "If he even shows up, that shithead."

A little amused, I fought off a smile and decided not to comment on it. She left me alone in the back to get to work, which I promptly did so after she had left and I was by myself again. I started with the smallest, lightest box first, making sure to take note of the fact that the clothes were seemingly sorted by color per item. It was surprisingly satisfying, sorting through the clothes and arranging them that way, so I was quite content to do it.

As I was finishing off unpacking my second box, I heard the door open from behind and glanced over my shoulder, thinking that it was just Odette coming to check on me. It wasn't uncommon to check on new employees to make sure they were doing something correctly, after all.

To my surprise, however, it wasn't Odette but rather a large man. He was tall and broad, practically the size of the doorway, and he stared back at me with deep brown eyes that were framed by long, dark lashes. I blinked and dropped the item of clothing into the box I had grabbed it from, spinning around as I studied his face closer, narrowing my eyes at him. He looked very familiar, but I couldn't place who he was or why I vaguely recognized him.

The man took one look at me and a smirk tugged up on the edges of his lips. "Stared long enough yet, doll face?" He asked, voice deep and taunting.

It was the familiar nickname that had me scowling, now instantly placing where I knew him from. Nobody had ever called me that except for one person. "Knox." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest as I stared at him. "Never thought I'd see you again, but I suppose it'd be too good to be true if that were the case." I scoffed.

He just chuckled and crossed the room in a few long strides, the closer he grew making me realize just how much he had grown since I last had seen him. It had been about four years since I had seen him, but I hadn't been on good terms with him in almost ten. I glared at him as he towered over me, pursing my lips when I saw how different he looked up close.

Last time I had seen him I was eighteen, and he had been tall but not nearly as tall nor as muscular as he was now. His biceps were large, practically the size of my fucking head, and I hated how much more handsome he had become.

"What are you even doing here?" He wondered, raising a dark brow at me. I clenched my jaw, refusing to admit to him that I had been fired. "New job. I'm guessing you are the one that Odette said was supposed to help me unpack these." I responded, gesturing to the abundance of boxes behind me. Somehow I doubted that he'd be too thrilled to help me, considering we didn't like each other, but I also knew that he had no choice—just like I had no choice but to work with him.

Knox rolled his brown eyes. "Four years and you're still annoying, I see." He muttered, skirting around me before he began to unpack the boxes as if I weren't here at all.