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

Weird

It's a friday morning today and I'm heading to the boutique on foot. It's the first time I do that on my own since the accident and I have to say... it feels good. I don't look at my phone, I don't look at the newsaper, I don't even think anymore, I just watch my steps, the road, and I walk, only stopping every now and then: the baby is becoming heavier and heavier by the day and I get out of breath quite often, not to mention my feet get huge at times, the "perks" of being pregnant, right?

I arrive at the boutique and as usual, I stop in front of the front door and admire the place: the glass door allows potential clients to see the inside, but even if that weren't the case, you could imagine the place had to deal with flowers. When I bought the place with my mum I had insisted on doing living walls on either side of the front door, that means that there are two panels of living moss, and other plants on the sides of the entrance, then we always keep potted plants outside as well, but that changes with the different seasons. The inside has a particular diagonal layout with four rooms: the first one is the massive hall where the clients come in, where we display the plants and compositions, it has two doors, one on the left that brings you to the greenhouse room where we grow cuttings of various plants, and one of the right that connects the hall with the office. The greenhouse then has another door that allows you access to the studio where we create bouquets and compositions which also has a back-door leading to a blind alley. What immediately drew me towards the place is the fact that the ceiling is vaulted and supported by several columns, that we now use to show off our products.

When I'm done thinking about how much I love this place and how much I've worked in order to make it look exactly the way I wanted, I step inside.
I'm greeted by the awesome perfume of roses, chamomile and hyacinthes and by the less awesome comment of my employee, "Jayjay, you look like shit."

"Thank you, Kels. You always know how to cheer me up," I joke... I think.

"Cheer you up? Why do you need cheering up? Did something happen? Did that son of beach do or say something, wha-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, stop that. Nothing important happened, and who's the son of a beach your referring to? I haven't met anyone. I just didn't get much sleep. I was heading to bed at about midnight, but Neil called me and we had the weirdest conversation ever and then the girl here," I say pointing at the bump, "decided to play tricks and I've got bad, bad, acid reflux all night long." I take off my coat, my scarf, my bag, put them all in the office and then start looking at the daily agenda, "let's see if I can do something to actually help rather than taking orders..."

"Neil called you? In the middle of the night? What was the conversation about?" she inquires with a frown on her face. 

"He called to clarify why he isn't my doctor anymore," I tell her. Kelsey's eyebrows shoot up and she widens her eyes and asks, "and...? What did he tell you?"

"That he wants to avoid transference. Basically he doesn't want feelings to get involved," I say matter-of-factly. 

I see Kelsey opening her mouth in a grimace and then she decides to say, "I'm not saying you're mistaken or anything, but... are you... totally, completely, 100% sure that that was what he meant?"

I stop dead in my tracks, "Y-yes?"

"So... you are not sure."

"He didn't use those specific words, but I'm pretty sure that was what he meant."

"Good lord I hate pragmatics and things left unsaid or implied," she says. 

"Ah, you took that from me, sweetheart. I'm sorry I scarred you for life with that pragmatics exam," I say trying to stir off the current subject.