Piercing Hatred | ✔️

8

~Knox's POV~

It was Monday when I saw Flora again, as she had taken off Saturday and I'd been off Sunday. I arrived at work about an hour before her, as per usual, so I wasn't very surprised when she came walking in the stock room just a few minutes after it hit eight AM.

My eyes flicked over to her when I heard her enter, only sparing her a brief glance before I went back to what I was doing. She'd made it pretty clear that she didn't want me to talk to her or bother her, and I would make good on my word. If she didn't want anything to do with me, then I'd leave her alone.

Flora and I both went about our business for about an hour, silence filling the room aside from the shuffle of our movements. Eventually, though, I heard the sound of Flora huffing in frustration from the opposite side of the room, causing me to curiously glance over at her. She sounded as if she was struggling.

She was stood in front of a shelf that was against a wall, holding a small clear box with two hands as she stretched to put it up high. I just watched her silently, my eyes trailing over the length of her body. A short, pleated denim skirt clung to her figure and stopped at her waist, her top a cropped, cream floral pattern. Over the top of it was a cropped black cardigan with long sleeves and her short hair was clipped up cutely on her head. Despite the almost knee-high black pumps that she wore, Flora still couldn't seem to reach the shelf she was trying to.

A huff of effort audibly escaped her and I couldn't help but to smirk slightly in amusement, crossing my arms over my chest as I continued to watch her. I knew she wouldn't be able to reach it, which meant she'd need to ask for help, and I was curious to see how long it would take before she'd finally do so.

I watched her closely for a moment, only about two or three minutes ticking by before she let out a noise of frustration and spun around, still clutching that glass box. My lips tugged up into an amused smirk as her mirky blue-green eyes met my brown ones, a glare forming on her face when she saw the smirk I wore. "Don't fucking smirk at me like that." She snapped, absentmindedly bouncing her thigh out of what I was pretty certain was irritation. The smirk only widened. "Need some help, doll face?" I hummed, stepping close enough to her that the scent of her perfume filled my senses. It was a warm scent of caramel and something light yet fruity, like iced raspberries.

Her gaze sparkled up at me in a temptingly alluring way. "Yes." She seemed to have to force the word through clenched teeth, causing me to raise a brow. "Ask me nicely, then." I hummed, giving her an expectant look.

For a second, I could've sworn I saw her eye twitch. "Please, Knox. I just need you to put this up there." She huffed, pointing behind her to the shelf she'd been struggling to reach just moments before. A playful smile lingered on my face as I took the box from her, our fingers brushing over one another as I did so. "See? Wasn't too hard, yeah?" I couldn't help but to tease her, slipping past her short, curvy figure to quickly put the box up.

Irritated, she ignored me and went back to doing other things, while my gaze lingered on her. I shook my head to myself, trying to remind myself not to look at her or tease her anymore because I'd told her I wouldn't. Though we hadn't been friends for years, I had never really wanted her to hate me, and I certainly didn't want to go against what she wanted even if I wanted the opposite. It wasn't as if I could be mad at her for hating me, especially considering I knew I deserved it, but it'd be a lie to say that I didn't care about her hatred for me.

Nonetheless, I also went back to work, going back and forth between taking out empty boxes and occasionally moving things that I knew were too heavy for Flora to lift. Her arms really seemed just as muscular as when we were young.

In fact, there were many things about her that seemed to have stayed the same. Those pretty eyes and her short figure, with her feisty personality. The only difference was now it was more than just feisty; she hated me, and I could see it in her eyes. I'd hurt her, so I knew I deserved for her to look at me like that.

Though some things had stayed the same, it was just as true that many things about her had changed as well. Flora was fuller, curvier now that she was grown, and her skin a little paler. I assumed she stopped going outside as much as she used to. The little septum piercing in her nose was something new as well, but I liked it just as much as I liked those two very thin, blonde strips of hair that framed her face. Her hair was much shorter now too, which I never thought I'd see on her. Flora used to hate cutting her hair, and I hadn't ever seen it shorter than waist long before.

"Goddamn it." I muttered to myself and shook my head as I tried to focus when I almost knocked over a box with a bunch of boxes of shoes in it. Thinking of Flora was doing nothing for me. It was pointless.

I got back to work, burying myself within it until lunch time rolled around.

"Knox." Odette called to me once I entered the break room, causing me to glance back to where I knew she was by the microwave. I raised a brow as she gestured for me to come closer, leaning against the cheap countertop. "What?" I asked, half expecting her to call me out on how distracted I had been today, but she didn't.

Odette sent me a look, raising her brows. "You and Flora. I know you and her don't get along, which is fine outside of work, but you at least need to be civil with one another." She scolded. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but she quickly cut me off before I could. "And don't say you are, because you're not. Avoiding each other like the plague isn't being civil." She added, crossing her arms. I just pursed my lips and raised a brow at her, unamused. "What am I supposed to do about that, Od? It's not something I can control." I told her, shrugging my shoulders. It wasn't like I could force Flora to get along with me.

"That's not my problem. She told me you guys have history, so whatever went wrong is your business, but I don't want it bleeding into the work-place. If you guys want to avoid each other and pretend like the other doesn't exist, do it when you're off the clock." Odette said, shooting me a pointed look as she opened the microwave before it could go off. She pulled out a bowl of some sort of soup and nudged the microwave shut with her elbow.

"Do something about it. I'm serious. If this issue isn't fixed by the end of the week, there'll be consequences for both of you." She warned, not giving me a chance to reply before she turned and left.