Piercing Hatred | ✔️

26

~Flora's POV~

I let Knox tug me into his side as we laid in his bed after dinner, slipping one of my legs between his. "Stop rolling away from me." He complained, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I didn't know you were a cuddler." I mentioned, glancing up at him as I laid my head on his bicep. He leaned into me, nudging my leg with his. "Says you. You're the one who always comes rolling into my arms the second you fall asleep. I know you like cuddling just as much as I do." He retorted, causing my cheeks to burn in embarrassment.

"That's not true." I grumbled, only earning a snort from him. He hummed, brushing his fingers through the hair on the back of my head. "You and I both know it is." He said, not teasing but rather stating it simply. I bit my lip and huffed, glancing up at him. "There's nothing to be embarrassed about. I don't mind it, Flora." He assured me, gaining a skeptical look sent his way. "But you were teasing me about it before." I reminded, absentmindedly tracing lines over his arm with the tip of my fingernail.

"Only because I found it cute." He told me in a murmur. "I never thought you'd be so cuddly in your sleep." He added, chuckling when I just grumbled in embarrassment. "Fine, yes, I like to cuddle." I admitted reluctantly.

Knox smiled knowingly and we fell into a comfortable silence, the slight nervousness that came from him cuddling me like this slowly fading away. This was the first time I had actually cuddled with him and been awake to remember it. The longer I stayed in his arms, the more I realized how much I truly liked this.

For a while we just laid with one another, yet although I was silent my thoughts were all over the place. I glanced up at him and scooted closer, causing him to look down to meet my gaze. All he had to do was look at me for a few seconds before he frowned, furrowing his brows. "What are you thinking about?" He asked, somehow knowing. I almost wanted to smile at how well he knew me, even after it had been so long since we'd been friends.

"Just...earlier, I guess." I answered quietly, a bit embarrassed. He raised a brow quizzically, brushing his thumb over the back of my neck as he played with my hair. "What about it?" He murmured, watching me closely. I looked away and he paused, no longer playing with my hair. "Do you regret it?" He wondered, sounding worried. My eyes widened and I shook my head, meeting his gaze again. "No!" I denied strongly. Relief washed over his features and I felt him relax into me. "Then what?" He asked, waiting patiently as I tried to find the words to say.

"It's just that I was thinking about how much our relationship has changed. I never really thought about you in the way that I do now, not even when we were friends." I confessed, and he chuckled, shifting slightly so he was turned towards me more instead of on his back. "Neither did I. Maybe it was all the time we spent apart from each other that brought out these feelings." He responded thoughtfully, earning a hum of quiet agreement from me. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure if I even cared about what exactly had caused this change in the way we viewed one another. I was just glad that it had happened.

He hesitated for a moment, gently rubbing a large hand down my back. "You know I really am sorry for the way that I hurt you, right?" He asked me, the low murmur of his voice laced with shame. I didn't even have to look at him to feel the regret he held for having tossed me out of his life.

"Don't." I shushed him and propped my head up on one hand, letting my eyes scan over his handsome features. He ducked his head slightly, as if too ashamed to look me in the eye. I hesitated, just watching him for a second, and then wrapped my arms around him in as big of a hug as I could give him. "You don't need to apologize anymore. I already forgave you and you know it." I scolded him, my heart racing when he hugged me closer and I tilted my head up to prop my chin on his shoulder to avoid getting my head pinned to his chest.

"That doesn't change the fact that I was in the wrong." He grumbled, causing me to roll my eyes. I gave him a little pinch on the shoulder and he cursed softly, though I doubted that it actually hurt. "Please. We can't move forward if one of us keeps holding the past too tight. If you're sorry, then show me now. Just let it stay in the past, where we both should've left it from the beginning." I whispered.

I didn't want to hold that against him anymore, nor did I want to pay it any more mind. That, of course, meant he couldn't hold it over his own head for forever when it wasn't something that could be changed. Now that I had a taste of happiness with him, I wanted it. It was more important to me than something that had no place here anymore, something which should've never had a place here.

A low sigh left him and he placed a gentle kiss on my jaw, then beneath my earlobe. "Okay. I'll let it go." He promised, causing me to smile softly into his shoulder.

We lapsed into another silence, my eyes sleepily fluttering open and closed as I struggled to stay awake. As if sensing that I was on the verge of sleep, he gently played with my hair in the way that I liked, causing me to curl my legs around his with a yawn.

"Goodnight, doll." Knox murmured, a smile in his voice. I mumbled some sleepy nonsense and drifted off to dreamland with the comfort and warmth of him holding me.