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

The Unfolding Of Neil Melendez

"Keeeelseyyyy."

It's 9am, the boutique is opening right now, but I've been here for the past two hours completing the party favors I had started creating the day before.
I came here earlier than usual because the little lady inside me decided to take a walk in the middle of the night but forgot she was still inside the bump and she ended up waking me up at 5am.
Why not go to work early, right?

Kelsey is coming in through the back door, as the front one is still closed and she finds me in the studio, putting the final touches onto the little compositions before me.

"Finally, you're here. Do we have any white hydrangea left?"

"White hydrangea? Yeah, I think so. What do you need it for?" she asks while trying to warm herself up. Today's temperatures are feisty, even for an October day.

"Oh, just a crown," I say, still busy finishing the task ahead.

"Yeah, 'just a crown'," - she quotes my words in the air, with a smirk on her face, "I don't think Neil's into flower crown, are you sure you heard what he actually said?" she says those last words while bobbing her head, incredulity showing in her eyes.

"It's not for Neil, you devilish girl!" a make a brief pause, thinking about whether or not to tell her about Gabby, but then I think about how it is not my story to tell, "I mean, he ordered it. But it obviously isn't for himself," I try saying at first, but then I realize it just doesn't make any sense, so I just tell her, "I can't tell you, alright? It's not something I can share, it's his story."

Kelsey has her mouth wide open in a O shape, "That son of a b! Goes to weddings with you and then buys flower crowns for others?!"

"Kels, we're friends, you know that right? He can buy flower crowns to whoever he wants, and it wouldn't be our business."

"I'm gonna find out one way or another, you know that," she says, slowly walking through the greenhouse room and then to the front door, opening it at last.

"Bring me those hydrangeas!!!"

*

This might be one of the most beautiful, rich in color, regal flower crowns I've ever created. The contrast between the white and the shades of pink is amazing and then here's some green, to wrap it up nicely and give some rest to the eyes.

My hand is sore and my fingers started shaking from fatigue after a while, but thankfully I managed to finish everything I needed to do: the party favors, some other wedding bouquets, funeral wreaths and last but not least, the crown. When I'm done with it, I get up, go to the main hall and I start wrapping it in pink tissue paper and then I put it in our signature carton box. I look at the giant clock that's hanging above the front door and see it is almost lunch time.

"Kels, I'm delivering the flowers I did this morning, do you have anything else to add to the van?"

"Nope, but hey," she winks, "I could deliver the crown and you could take care of the rest," she says while she keeps on winking. I take the van keys and start walking to the front door, "Not gonna happen, sweetheart. Your tongue cuts like a blade when you want it to, I won't let you say a word to Neil about any of this," I interject, "I'll see you in two hours max, oh hi Mrs. Donnelly, I'm sorry, I'm so clumsy," I say, crashing into one of our loyal clients.

"Oh Ms. Miller, you've got nothing to be sorry about, I'm always in the way! But... Is this a man you're talking about? Have you finally find a husband for yourself?" she says. When I say she's one of our loyal clients I don't mean it like... "she's the best, we love her", on the contrary, she has been buying our daily bouquets for years now and that's good for the business, sure, but she's so gossipy. She doesn't have any regard for feelings, she doesn't care about the century we're in, if you don't abide by the sociatal rules of ancient Rome, you're a crook.
When she found out I was pregnant she was so happy for me until I explained that I didn't tell anyone about the marriage... Because there was no marriage. Imagine her reaction when I told her I got pregnant with a syringe. But luckily our bouquets are still the best in town.