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

Coming Home

6:39 pm

Neil has just arrived home and something's off already. The light blue door to the apartment is open just slightly, someone passing by wouldn't even notice, but for someone who's supposed to enter with a pair of key, seeing it open is weird.

He enters and while taking off his black scarf, he says with a loud tone, "Jayjay? I'm home."

No one answers though.

He walks up to the kitchen and the open living space, but Jade isn't there. So he goes into the bathroom, the bedroom, the little study, the baby's room, but she isn't there. The house is empty, but for one thing: Neil goes back into the kitchen and notices something that didn't catch his eye before, Jade's phone is on the counter.

Why would she leave her phone behind? She must be with someone she knows if she didn't bother to bring it with her.

So he calls Kelsey.

6:47pm

"Kelsey?"

"Yeah doc?"

"Is Jay there with you?"

"Uhm no, Tammy and I left her at the apartment almost three hours ago, why?"

"Because she isn't home and she doesn't have her phone with her."

"That's weird."

And the door was open. That's weirder.

"Has she ever left the door open for some reasons?"

"The apartment door? Oh yeah, she usually leaves it open if she has to go either on the rooftop or the basement, sometimes the electrical boxes and heat pumps die and she has to go down there to check things up."

Right. That makes sense.

"Thanks Kelsey."

"Anytime doc!"

And he hangs up. As Neil puts his phone into his left trousers pocket, he opens the tap water and sees if he can get it to warm up. A few seconds pass, but the water still runs cold in between his fingers. He decides to go look for Jade, so that he could lend her some help in case she'd need it.

So he starts his descent. Down he goes, down, down and then once on the ground floor he keeps going under, now a thick layer of concrete is above his head, under his feeth and on both of his sides. It's funny how a building can go from cozy and welcoming to feeling like a prison. There's a long corridor in front of him and he starts walking along it until he reaches the door that says 'electrical boxes and heating pumps' and then he stops in his tracks.

6:54 pm

Muffled because of the door, he hears a voice.

"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."

He doesn't recognize the voice, but its tone, the things this person has just said, sends a shiver down his spine.

"What do you mean?"

And then his heart collapses.

Jade.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, he starts fumbling with his key, luckily still in his jacket. Thank goodness that radio has constant issues, he thinks to himself, as he takes out the little screwdriver he usually uses to fix his car radio when it starts showing problems.

"You haven't figured that out yet?" a pause makes Neil stop trying to lock pick the door lock, but then he continues, "I'm gonna end your life tonight. I told you, I'm gonna do what I couldn't all those months ago," and even more driven by these words, Neil breaks in two seconds after, lock picked, and at loss for words.