What Nobody Knew

Part 14

"The Gamble group mailed again, they want your approval before proceeding. How would you like me to respond?" I asked Mr Knight.

Tick tick tick.

"I'll handle it myself." He answered.

Tick tick tick.

Only two more hours. Two more hours and I can leave Iceland. 

Mr Knight's shoulder has been even colder than usual. Normally, we would go through his emails throughout the day as new ones come in to not fall behind. But since we came back from the meeting this morning, I can't help feeling that he wasn't all too happy with me.

He has been doing everything in his power to avoid talking or even looking at me. He started answering most of his own emails and even stood up and left the office to make phone calls. Never, in all the time that I have been working for him, has he ever left the room to make a call. And then today... five times!

I couldn't help wondering what I was doing here. Did me talking to George at the meeting really warrant this much frostiness? Or was it the questions afterwards? Either way, it feels like a major overreaction.

Or maybe this feud with George ran way deeper than I thought. 

The documents were piling up on Mr Knight's desk. Usually, I wouldn't think twice about going over there and collecting the pile and putting them in the filing cabinet. Now, however, I wasn't sure whether this would be the right course of action. 

Oh, come on Elizabeth, suck it up! What's the worst that could happen?

I rose from my seat and walked towards his desk with determination, picked up the stack of documents and made my way over to the filing cabinet.

I placed the stack on top of the filing cabinet, taking each pile of documents and placing them in the right folder before putting them away. Halfway through I heard Mr Knight stop typing.

He was staring at me, I could tell. My skin was burning as it always did when he looked at me in that way. I wasn't going to turn around. He will not have the satisfaction of getting my attention.

After ten minutes I couldn't take it anymore. My skin was tingling all over. This couldn't be normal. Your skin can't tingle just because someone was staring at you. I couldn't take another minute of it.

I spun around and looked Mr Knight straight in the eye. "Is there something I can help you with sir?" I asked, meeting his coolness with my own.

He was taken aback by my words but still didn't respond. I took my chance to continue.

"Don't worry sir, I understand. I am the employee, I should know my place. I'm sorry for asking you questions that are clearly very personal to you," I said, not feeling sorry at all and more aggravated than anything, "It won't happen again. I honestly believed that I was doing what was expected of me by filling in the gaps at that meeting. But I shall remember to keep my mouth shut in the future. So, if you don't mind, I would appreciate it if you stopped staring at me like that, so I can get back to work."

Somewhere amidst my rant, my arms crossed in front of me and Mr Knight had risen from his seat and was making his way over to where I was standing.

"Oh I get it, you don't see any fault in your actions at all. You don't see how you flirting with a client puts me in an uncomfortable position?" He asked, moving the last couple of steps so that there was only half a foot between us. 

There was a fire behind his eyes, providing a release for the tension that's been building since this morning.

I scoffed, "Flirting? That's a gross exaggeration of the facts!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"Oh, is that so? Are you going to stand there and deny that the two of you have been sharing secret smiles all through that meeting? And don't think I missed the way that he was looking at you the whole time." 

His breath was ragged, fanning my face each time he exhaled.

"That's absolutely ridiculous! I was simply answering his questions, which had to do with our work! And how am I to blame for the way that he was looking at me? Although, I have to say that I think you are completely wrong about that also," I rushed out, my breathing matching his.

"Oh please, we both know that you gave him enough encouragement." 

At that moment, with the two of us so close to one another and his burning eyes unwavering, I knew I had to leave. We both needed time to cool down, the stress and tension of the day had finally gotten the best of the situation.

I broke eye contact first, taking a step back to diffuse some of the strain.

"I'm going to take my lunch now, I'll be back in 30 minutes," I said, avoiding his eyes as I went to grab my things to leave.

I have never taken my lunch outside the office before, but today seemed like the opportune time to do so. 

By the time I made my way to the coffee shop across the street, a message came through on my phone. I glanced at it quickly but shoved it back in my pocket when I read Mr Knight's name.

Not right now sir, I'm going to enjoy my coffee without your icy presence cooling it to the point where it's unconsumable.