Piercing Hatred | ✔️

4

~Flora's POV~

I entered my room after work a few days later, kicking off my shoes beside my bedroom door before I ran a hand through my short hair out of habit. A heavy sigh left my lips and I rolled my aching shoulders, tired from the long shift I'd worked. Knox hadn't shown up for work, so I ended up having to work by myself, which meant I had more to do without him.

My sock covered feet padded across the white carpet which covered the floors of my bedroom and I crawled into the comfort of my bed, first having to push up on my toes to get up on the height of my platform style bed. The frame was a dark gray fabric with a tufted headboard that was pressed against the wall, and the abundance of silver, white and black fluffy pillows covered the bed, matching the white and silver patterned blankets. Above my bed was a small, gray chandelier and on either side of my bed were two white nightstands, cute white lamps sitting atop each one.

Across from the foot of my bed was a white dresser that I kept my perfumes and my jewelry display on, whereas my small makeup vanity was just to the left of the dresser, more against the corner wall. To the right side of my bed, a few feet from my nightstand, was the door that led into my bathroom while the door to my closet was a few feet to the right of my dresser.

My legs stretched out as I laid back into the warmth of my bed, burying my face into the pillows with my eyes shut sleepily. I had slept like shit last night and only ended up getting about three and a half hours of sleep, so it was probably best that Knox hadn't showed up to work today. The amount of patience I had on little sleep was even less than normal, especially for people like him, and I wasn't very good at being patient with him in the first place.

Though going to sleep wasn't my intention when I had laid down, it didn't take me very long before I was out like a light.

**

I woke up early the next morning, feeling refreshed and awake for once instead of tired and slightly cranky. It seemed that falling asleep as early as I had last night had actually been a good thing, seeing as I now was feeling well rested.

After I made sure to take a quick shower, I wrapped myself in a towel and left the bathroom to begin to get ready. I first put on my little bit of makeup, managing to finish it all within less than ten minutes, before I then pulled on a pair of undergarments that I dug out of my dresser.

Humming, I entered my closet and thumbed through my clothes that were hung up, searching for something to wear. I ended up picking out a pair of high waisted, cheetah patterned pants that I looped a single grommet belt around the waist of, making sure they were tight enough on me. My cropped shirt was black and had a white pattern on the front with a large, maroon font that said 'rock star' over it. Lastly, I slid my feet into a pair of black combat boots and grabbed a small bag to carry my phone and things in before I left, heading off to work.

When I entered Interstellar, I found myself feeling relieved as I spotted Odette behind the register, glad that she was here. Though I had been working here for a few days now, I still found myself feeling slightly nervous around other employees, aside from Odette and Knox. I was familiar with Odette at least a little, and Knox was just an asshole, so neither one of them made me feel anxious.

After I gave Odette a wave as I passed the front desk, I headed into the back room and found that Knox was already here, working on taking out empty boxes. I decided not to say anything to him and instead just let him continue what he was doing, going about my own business with the tense silence hanging within the room. It was something that had been there for years before, that tension, and it was plain to see that that hadn't changed despite the years since I'd last seen him. Some part of me was glad about that, because it was familiar. I didn't know what it was like to feel or behave civilly towards him anymore.

The hours ticked by in silence as I worked, much of my time spent thinking of either nothing or of the most random things while I worked. My mind had a habit of drifting when I was working, so it wasn't unusual for me to get caught up and essentially become oblivious to the things around me other than what I was doing.

"Flora." I hardly heard the sound of Knox saying my name, and continued to hang and fold up items of clothes, noting to myself about the pretty color of the lavender shirt I picked up. My lack of response to him and him alone must've seemed like I was ignoring him, not that I simply hadn't heard him.

This proved to be true when I felt a large hand smack gently at the back of my shoulder, causing me to whip around with a frown on my face. Knox stood there, towering over me with a look of irritation laid deeply across his handsome face. "It's lunch break, you know." He told me with a slightly smart-ass tone. "You don't have to ignore me just because you don't want to talk to me." He grunted beneath his breath, rolling his eyes as he turned around. I frowned and set the shirt down that I held in my hands, narrowing my gaze at the back of his head. "Bold of you to assume that I pay enough attention to you to be ignoring you in the first place." I retorted as I pushed passed him, exiting the back room before he could go first.

It was stupid and petty, and of course I knew that, but I didn't care either. I didn't spare him a glance as I headed out of the building, already trying to think about where I wanted to go for my lunch break.