Hurts So Good (Neil Melendez (The Good Doctor) x OC)

Getting Things Done

"Right. I've got quite the story to tell you... I'm sorry I've brought no chair here, otherwise I would have told you to sit down, but oh well," he sighs and finally puts two arms length of distance between our bodies and I feel like I can breath again. He leans toward the door with his whole back and runs his hands through his hair.

"Everything was going alright until I saw you something like... six or seven months ago. I thought I could handle being away from you, mostly because... you know, the fucking police were always behind my back and stuff. But then I saw you coming out of that center where all the women go... and something inside my brain snapped," he hisses, "I started keeping an eye on you from that day, always keeping my distance, so that the police wouldn't get involved... and then I noticed something."

His arms collapse along his frame and he looks up at me. I don't think I've ever seen his eyes go so dark, but they do, "Your stomach was growing."

Brennan detaches from the door and starts pacing around the basement, circling me.

"At first I thought you were getting fatter, you were never the top model kinda girl, you've always been overweight so it wouldn't have been a surprise if you were actually putting on more kilos, but then... your belly took this sharp oval shape and there was no mistaken that you were pregnant."

I'm still silent, I don't dare move a muscle. It's not even because I'm afraid for myself, I'm afraid for my child. I can't risk him getting violent. Then I noticed he stopped behind me, only a couple of step away, "I started wondering who the father was, no one was going to those appointments with you so I thought you must have had a one night stand and got yourself a little package, but guess I was wrong, I just needed to wait to find out that you were fucking that damn doctor!" he yells and then shakes his head, as if to reorganize the things he wants to say.

"But anyway... I found out you were pregnant and the thought of it made my blood boil. Like for real! I think I was going crazy Jade, so I had to do something, you know? I was locked up in my apartment consumed by the thoughts of you and there you were: happy with that Kelsey slut, and that nonsense shop of yours and a fucking baby inside your body and probably fucking every men that came your way."

I wonder if he knows.

I wonder if he knows what I was really going through.

I wonder if he knows my mom has passed. And I start hoping that he doesn't know. And I start thinking about what he would have done, had he known about that.

Would things have ended up just the same? Or would he have stepped back?

He doesn't give me a chance to ask any of that, because a second later I'm frozen again as he speaks his truth, "That day on the streets... it was me on the bike, Jayjay."

"You ran me over?"

"I did. I wanted to take something away from you, I just didn't know how and then I saw my opportunity right there. You were lost in your thoughts and... you didn't even see me coming! Then the car right after... that was luck. That definitely wasn't intentional, but the timing was perfect. Back then I admit I felt bad for a little while, but then it all changed."

I can feel him getting closer from behind and suddenly his arms are around me, his hands on my belly, the rest of him brushing against me and for a second I think I'm gonna throw up. I need to walk away. I need to scrape off his hands from me. I need to erase the thought of him with me for good.

So I take a step away.

And he laughs.

"What? You're not enjoying my story? That was the best part! But let me finish, you owe me that much," he pauses and then continues, "when you came home you were looking pretty horrible, then I started seeing you with that pig. And you were so comfortable around him and always smiling, and I thought that he must have been the father and that you two where only now getting closer to one another because of what had happened and that's when I cursed myself."

He starts panting and walking rapidly, "I told myself, 'Brennan, you fool. You gave her an opportunity to be even happier! You didn't take shit away, you gave her more than what she already had!' I felt like a damn idiot. You made me feel that way!" his hands are back in his hair and I can clearly see that some of it are being pulled out of his scalp.

It's the first time I completely and truly acknowledge Brennan's behaviour: he's gone. He's turned into a psycopath and he probably needs help. Serious help. And the moment I recognize that, it's the moment I get even paler and more anxious, because you can't predict how a mentally unstable person will act next.

"So I started leaving you flowers, I know you love those, right?" he says giggling. He perfectly knows what he's doing, he knows the meaning those flowers hold.

"I gave you a couple of phone calls. Rang your door bell. Followed you closely around town... I can't believe you never actually spotted me! I must have gotten better at that. I started noticing patterns and that's what helped me getting in here. With you."

"You're completely out of your mind Brennan, you need help. Please, let me go and I swear I won't make a big deal of this, but you need to get help and soon, before you do anything you might regret."

"Regret? I won't regret a thing. Taking you out of the picture will give me the relief I need! And seeing his reaction will be even sweeter."

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't figured that out yet?" he stands still, mouth open, words hanging in the air between us, "I'm gonna end your life tonight. I told you, I'm gonna do what I couldn't all those months ago," from those words on it's all a crescendo, I don't see the knife until he pulls it out from behind his back, and then I realize something else: my thighs are wet.

My water broke.

December 31st - 6.17pm at St. Jose St. Bonaventure hospital

"Okay, we're done here," says Dr. Melendez wrapping up another successful surgery. He steps away from the patient, exits the OR and starts peeling off all the layers of surgical equipment. Dr. Lim comes out of another OR and says while letting out a tired sigh, "You can go Neil, we're done with the most urgent ones, we can take care of the rest. Thank you for coming in with such short notice."

"No problem, Audrey. I'll head home then. Bye."

"Home, eh? Bye Neil."

A shy smile appears on his face, home. Words, what a weird and ever changing thing they are.

They hold a certain meaning for so long and then they transform just like that, adapting to a new situation, to new feelings, to new people.

He's still thinking about words and hidden meanings, old meanings and new meanings as he approaches his car, opens the door and gets in. He starts the engine and drives home.