What Nobody Knew

Part 29

George left shortly after I got off the phone with Mr Knight. Mr Knight was turning out to be the biggest man repellent ever, or just George repellent, which at this point was basically the same thing.

I was waiting on the bench for about ten minutes before the company car pulled up next to the curb. Patrick stepped out of the car and was already holding the door open when I approached him.

He greeted me with a warm smile, "Good evening Miss Bennet."

"Good evening Patrick." I greeted him before I climbed into the back seat.

Mr Knight was sitting inside, typing away on his cellphone. He was dressed in his signature black business suit, hair styled neatly to the side. 

I plonked down on the seat next to him without so much as an acknowledgement.

Patrick started the car and we drove off in silence.

I waited patiently but after a few moments of silence, I couldn't take it any more.

"Where are we going? There weren't any business trips on your calendar for this week." I asked confused.

My curiosity was stronger than the tension that remained unmentioned between the two of us. 

It's funny how one evening could wipe away the formal way of speaking to Mr Knight that I had grown accustomed to. After everything, it felt silly to attach a "sir" at the end of every sentence like I used to.  Something shifted last night and left me feeling uncomfortable in this new, uncharted territory of our business relationship. 

Mr Knight looked up from his phone with a bored expression on his face.

"We're going to Berlin." He answered simply.

Sure, say it casually as if we're going through a McDonald's drive thru. 

"Any particular reason?" At this point, I was half stunned and the other half of me was sitting in disbelief. Otherwise, I wouldn't have reacted quite as calmly as I had at the fact that Mr Knight had basically told me to get in a car and that he was taking me along with him to a strange country without so much as a warning or time to prepare.

"There's a... situation that I have to deal with personally at one of my hotels." 

"Oh, okay."

Mr Knight went right back to typing on his phone and that left me to my own thoughts.

So we were going to Berlin... I knew there was the possibility of travel involved in the job and that this might fall over non-working hours. I was to be available whenever he should need me after all, I remember what the contract said.

Then the realisation dawned on me that I was still wearing my sweaty running clothes and that this was literally all that I had on me. I didn't have my passport or my wallet or any books. How did he expect me to just fly off to another country without any of these necessities?

"Uhm, Mr Knight?" 

I could be mistaken but I could've sworn that his eye twitched ever so slightly when I spoke.

How strange...

"Yes?" He responded without looking up from his phone.

"I don't have my passport or my wallet or anything with me. Now, I don't know how long we'll be away for but I'm pretty sure I am going to need more than a pair of running shorts and trainers." I stated.

Mr Knight looked up and gave my appearance a once over as if he had only now realised that I wasn't exactly dressed to board a plane.

No shit Sherlock.

His eyes travelled back to my own, looking as intense as they had yesterday. I had to fight not to squirm under his gaze.

"We picked up your passport and a bag of clothes before coming by to fetch you." 

Oh, of course, he thought of everything. He was the epitome of planning and organizing everything to the minutest detail. Obviously, he wouldn't come and pick me up in my state without first going by my house and...

"Wait, did you..." I didn't even know how to phrase it. That irritating blush crept up onto my cheeks again.

The mere thought of Mr Knight being in my room and going through my closet to pack my bag had me feeling all kinds of weirdness. Did he go through my underwear drawer?

Oh, bloody hell Lizzie, what are you? 13 years old? Do you really think the man has any interest in looking at your knickers?

His eyes crinkled at the corners and if I didn't know any better I would think that Mr Stick-up-his-butt was fighting off a smile. He was actually enjoying my discomfort, it was as if he knew exactly what I was thinking.

A shadow of a dimple appeared on his one cheek, distracting me for a minute too long. I didn't know he had dimples...

Go figure, the first time I see the man showing any form of a smile it would be at my expense.

"Your sister was home and brought down your passport and some clothes." He answered with a hint of amusement.

I thanked Julie in my thoughts for being at the right place at the right time. I can only imagine what would've happened if someone else was home at that time and answered the door. If it was my mother, Mr Knight would probably still be standing there answering questions, that is if he had bothered to entertain them in the first place.

"Oh, of course," I answered, feeling even more embarrassed at my train of thought.

Mr Knight went back to typing on his phone and I stared out of the window, which turned out to be one of my favourite pass times when I was in the car with him.

In the beginning, the lack of stimulating conversation really got to me. I couldn't understand how someone could sit in a car with another person for an extended period of time without uttering more than a few syllables.

I have now gotten used to the silence though. It was oddly calming even if there weren't any questions nagging at the back of my mind that Mr Knight would refuse to give answers to.

I couldn't help wondering whether this was how our relationship was going to be from now on. Were we going to keep having these intense arguments and then shifting from being formal to informal towards each other in a blink of an eye? Was this even normal?

I glanced over at Mr Knight who was reading something on his phone with a crease forming between his eyebrows.

Well, for now at least, it seemed like we were just going to pretend like nothing happened last night.