Piercing Hatred | ✔️

10

~Flora's POV~

By the time Friday rolled around, I still hadn't stopped the cold shoulder that I was giving Knox at work. When I first started my shift on Friday, I didn't pay any mind to Knox as I entered the back room, where he was already working. He always seemed to be here before me.

A few hours went by without incident, which caused me to think that perhaps I had been right. Maybe he actually had been lying about us being punished by Odette. Convinced once again that this was the case, I glanced over at him and cast a nasty glare at the back of his head, one that he obviously didn't notice.

However, only about fifteen minutes after I came to that conclusion, the door to the back room that Knox and I were in together opened. I didn't pay it any mind, at first, thinking that it was just Knox leaving to get something or another. It wasn't abnormal for him to go in and out, so I just kept sorting through the box of clothes I was working on unloading.

"Knox and Flora, I need to speak to you." Odette suddenly said, causing me to straighten and spin around, a little surprised. Just like that, the tone of her voice made it ever so clear to me that Knox had, in fact, not been lying. She didn't sound very happy, so much so that I found myself nervously biting on my lip as I looked at her. Odette gestured for the two of us to follow her before she turned and exited, not even having to say anything else before we both began to follow her out, though I went along far more hesitantly than Knox did.

As we were exiting, Knox and I spared one another a glance at the same time, and he sent me a dirty look when our eyes met. Perhaps for the first time, I didn't glare at him but rather looked away, embarrassed.

I couldn't help the fact that I felt a little bit nervous as I followed Odette with Knox, unsure what sort of punishment she would even be able to give us. If anyone was going to get a harsher punishment, I imagined it'd be me considering the fact that Knox had genuinely tried to tell me, yet I hadn't listened.

The three of us entered a small back room that looked like a small office, which I hadn't even known was here, and the door quietly clicked shut as I entered last. Knox's frame towered over mine, shielding my smaller one from sight, and I couldn't help the brief wish that it would stay like that. Yet he stepped to the side so Odette could see us both and crossed his arms over his chest, looking a little miffed that I'd gotten us into trouble, and I felt like I was a little kid again. Embarrassed, I left my arms by my sides and nervously fiddled with my fingers, loosely clasping them in front of me.

"Hm." Odette pursed her lips as she glanced between him and I. "I take it that you guys clearly were unable to understand what I asked of you." She said, though her gaze seemed to focus more on Knox than on me. A slight frown pulled onto my lips when he just gave her a nod, not bothering to deny it. I waited for him to throw me under the bus, to blame it on me because, in actuality, it was my fault. Knox had tried, but I hadn't.

But as I waited for him to do so, a few seconds passed, and then a few more, but he never said what I had expected him to. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye, wondering what was stopping him from telling her about how I'd refused to play nice. If it were me, I was almost certain that I'd have done it, yet he didn't. Confusion rippled through me in tiny waves, but I didn't say anything, opting to pay attention to Odette instead.

"If you aren't willing to set aside your differences at work, then you might as well not even be here." Odette said, her words causing my eyes to widen. She was still talking to Knox, and I worried what she meant by that.

"It's my fault." I blurted in a panic, my face burning when her eyes snapped over to me. A single brow of hers raised, but she didn't look surprised. "He tried to be civil and talk with me about the situation, but I didn't believe him so I didn't want to try." I explained. I could feel his gaze on the side of my face but I refused to look his way, unable to believe that I was actually helping him. Why was I helping him, again? If she fired him for this problem between us, I'd have to see him less. That was supposed to be what I wanted.

"Okay." Odette hummed after a few moments, a thoughtful look on her face as she looked between us once again. There was some kind of scheming expression on her face that had me wary. "Are you willing to change that, Flora?" She asked, earning a hurried nod from me.

A smile rose on her lips and her eyes sparkled in an almost scary way. "Good." She exclaimed happily. "Then you won't mind working closely with him, will you?" She asked, and that was where I hesitated. Something in her words were too nice for how strict she had just been, but I needed to keep this damn job so I found myself giving a reluctant nod of my head. Beside me, Knox was also staring at her, though he looked suspicious while I was a little uncertain what she was thinking.

"Knox does quite a lot of different things around here, you know—from sorting things, heavy lifting, working the register. He's also pretty good with most of the customers, believe it or not." Odette told me, causing me to just stare at her. I wasn't sure at all where she was going with this, or why I needed to know what sort of work he did aside from working in the back with me. What did that have to do with any of this? Though I was confused, I didn't dare to interrupt her to ask.

"But when I first hired him, he actually wasn't hired for any of that. Interstellar had only been recently opened when he was hired, so he was hired on to simply do one thing: model the men's items." She explained to me, taking me by surprise. "After a while, he began to do other work here, but he still occasionally does the modeling thing for us, when we get new shipments in." She said, a smile creeping on her lips as I glanced between her and Knox, wondering if they were fucking with me.

Odette noticed this, of course, and nudged me. "Don't look so shocked. He's a good looking guy, right? Shouldn't be that surprising." She teased, the words making my face burn. I didn't comment but rather just shook my head.

"Why do I need to know this?" I finally asked, wanting to cut to the chase. She smiled. "Because he has a shoot next Saturday. Usually I'm the one who helps him when he does it, but since you're willing to work on actually being civil with him, you can do it." She said.

I stared at her, stunned, and hesitantly shook my head. "But I don't even know how to!" I protested, earning a glare from her that almost made me flinch. Odette was almost always overly nice, so it was unusual to be glared at by her. It made it clear that I shouldn't fight her on this. I cleared my throat and reluctantly nodded instead, though all I wanted to do was protest against the whole thing. I'd never done anything like what she expected me to do, whatever it may have been.

To my left, Knox was quiet but I could tell he was just as taken aback by her request as I was. However, he didn't seem as opposed to it, just a little uncertain.

"Good." She smiled when I nodded and waved a hand at the two of us. "Now go. I have a phone call to make." She shooed us out of the small room, pushing us into the hall. The door was slammed shut and then locked, leaving him and I alone in the hallway. I could feel his eyes on me and looked up at him, an embarrassed flush creeping up my neck at the look that he gave.

"See, doll face?" He muttered, stepping closer. "If you'd have listened, you'd have saved yourself the trouble, just like I told you."