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

The Brennan Problem

The day had started magnificently, naked beside the man of my dreams that could pull off deep conversation at 5:30 in the morning, just to turn into a nightmare in a fraction of a second.

"I know for a fact I didn't order these."
Neil comes into the bedroom holding a bouquet of red carnations and suddenly I'm feeling like I'm about to faint. The room is out of focus, my ears are blocked and my heart is going about a hundred thousand miles an hour.

I try to sit up in bed, pulling the bedsheets up to cover my breasts. I desperately want to make myself look smaller, I'd usually hug my knees, but my baby bump prevents me from doing that, so I just stay there, speechless and scared.

"Jade? Who are these from?"

Do I? Don't I? Should I?

I definitely should and... We've come to a point where I have, need, to address the elephant in the room.

"Do you remember the first time you went about looking at every detail of my place?"

"Yes..." Neil says while sitting on the bed beside me, already sure this is going to take a little more than a few minutes to disclose.

"You pointed at a vase, a broken one, to be precise."

"I remember you told me it had to do with a not so pleasant relationship," he states, "are these," he says pointing at the bouquet, "from your ex?"

A short lived breath is caught in my throat, "they are."

"Care to elaborate a little bit on that or should I proceed with guesses?"

Neil's eyes are focused on me, his forehead is wrinkled due to a deep frown caused by doubts and misunderstanding.

"I... His name was... Is..."

"Hey, hey calm down, take deep breaths for me."

But my mind is already somewhere else.

*

*

"Hi baby, where have you been?" Brennan asks me, as soon as I step inside the apartment.

"Oh hi, I wasn't expecting you to be home so soon," shit.

"Yeah, I was just wondering why you wouldn't pick up your damn phone, you know? So I came over, but you where here."

"How long have you been here for?"

"Two hours."

"Well, you wouldn't have found me anyway, I was at work."

At that, I try to make my way to my bedroom, but he steps in my path and stops me. Brennan grabs my chin and makes me look at him, "that fucking shop, sometimes I swear I'd like to burn it down, it keeps you away from the house for far too many hours and I don't like it," he then kisses me and pushes me away from him with such a strength that I have to counter-balance myself or I'd land on the apartment floor. I'm not even looking at him anymore, my eyes fixed on the floor, I walk around him and finally make it to my bedroom. I know he is still watching me, he does that every single time, so when I take my phone out of my bag, I'm extra careful with my movements, I hide it inside my right sleeve and tell him I need to go to the bathroom, the only place where, usually, I'm able to be alone, except this time he follows me there as well.

"Can I change my tampon alone, please?"

Brennan looks disgusted. The mere mention of 'period', 'tampon', 'pad' are natural deterrants, and he slams the bathroom door in my face. I stay there a couple of second, only looking at the door, trying to calm my breathing and pushing back tears that are threatening to run down my face. I can't afford to have teary eyes once outside, or he'll get suspicious. I take out the phone, my back to the door, so in case he'd open the door, he won't notice right away.