Piercing Hatred | ✔️

32

~Flora's POV~

Over the next few days, I found myself growing used to being by myself after work instead of with Knox, though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted to see him. I mean, he was so close.

I laid down in bed the next night, eating the lemon chicken and green beans that I had made myself. It was a little dry, however, so I frowned to myself and ended up setting it away from me. How I had managed to fuck up chicken was beyond me, but I sure as hell didn't want to eat dry chicken.

Seeing as I had fucked up my food, I began to look for somewhere to order food from, keeping Friends on in the background once again. As I was looking, however, there came a knock from my front door, causing me to lift my head and furrow my brows. It had been incredibly quiet, almost hard to hear, and I wondered for a second if I had simply imagined it. When I didn't get up to answer it, assuming that I had just misheard it or imagined it, another series of knocks ensued that were much louder than the first time.

So I hauled myself out of bed, putting my search for a place to order dinner from on hold, and hurried to the front door. I didn't think to peek out the peep hole to see who it was and instead just opened the door without checking first, the first thing greeting my eyes being a very muscular looking chest.

My eyes flicked up and met Knox's, who crossed his arms over his chest when our gazes met, a frown pulling down the edges of his lips. He was upset, and the sight of it made me furrow my brows slightly.

"What's wrong?" I asked, peering up at him in confusion. He raised a brow, looking at me as if I was supposed to know the answer to that already. "Did I do something wrong, Flora?" He asked, only confusing me even more. I quickly shook my head, lost, and frowned at him. "What? No. Why would you think that?" I wondered.

Knox sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up. "Can I come in?" He asked, gesturing to my apartment. I nodded and stepped to the side, his scent fanning into my face when he stepped past me. It warmed my insides, the familiarity and the comfort of it, and I followed him with my gaze before I snapped out of it to close and lock the front door.

I turned to face him after the door was locked, finding that he was standing in the middle of my living room now, so I wandered over to him. "So..." I trailed, raising a brow. "Why would you think you did something wrong?" I questioned, deciding to cut to the chase.

He bit on his bottom lip and shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because you've been kind of avoiding me outside of work." He responded, his words causing my lips to part in surprise. Had it truly come across like that? I hadn't meant to seem like I was trying to avoid him, or like I didn't want to see him. "Avoiding you?" I echoed, frowning. "I'm not avoiding you." I insisted with a shake of my head.

Despite my attempt to assure him, Knox doesn't look very certain about what I've said because he just lets out a heavy sigh. "Then why haven't you so much as even tried to knock on my door? It's not like I'm far from you, after all..." He trailed, glancing towards my front door.

Fiddling with my fingers, I looked away in embarrassment. "I wanted to, but I thought if I did you might become annoyed with me. We already have spent so much time together, and you see me every day at work so I thought you might want time to yourself after, you know." I explained, taking a peek up at him only to find that he was still staring at me with that frown on his face. My eyes slid away from his almost immediately.

"You said before that you don't like when a girl is overly clingy. I just wanted to respect your space and not suffocate you by being around you all the time." I added.

A brief silence passed before Knox let out a heavy sigh. "I said that in reference to my relationship with Gabriela, not you. Maybe I should have made that more clear. I like when you're around me. You don't make me feel suffocated." He said, gently grabbing my hand to pull me closer. I looked up and met his gaze, feeling a bit better now. "Not even in the times where you rolled onto me in your sleep." He teased, the edges of his lips tugging into a playful smile.

I couldn't help the soft laugh that left me at his teasing, my fingers playing around with his. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Do you forgive me?" I asked, leaning into his broad chest.

He pretended to hum in thought and wound an arm around my waist, pulling me in closer. "Give me a kiss first and I'll think about it." He hummed, an amused smile on my face when I pushed up on my toes to connect our lips. His arm tightened around my waist and I shivered when he bit mischievously on my bottom lip, tugging it with his teeth. "And never do that again." He added in a whisper as he pulled away.

"Okay." I whispered, clearing my throat. "I think I can manage that." I agreed softly.

For a moment we were both quiet before I grabbed his hand and led him down the hallway towards my bedroom, where he didn't hesitate to make himself comfortable in my bed. I got in beside him and he looked at my laptop, which was open to a page of restaurants that I'd been looking through. "Looks like I interrupted you." He remarked, earning a hum of agreement.

His arm reached around my shoulders and tugged me against his side. "Guess I'll just have to join you, then." He said, and it was clear that he didn't plan to leave anytime soon. I smiled, utterly fine with that.