Feelings

Chapter 20

"Fancy seeing you here," said Melendez a little coldly.

Lim swallowed thickly to compose herself before she said, "Neil, I have to use the ladies' room. I'll leave you both alone for now."

"Audrey," Melendez tried to call out to her, but she had already stormed away. Well, storm wasn't exactly the right term since after about two hours in heels, Lim's walk usually turned into that of a newborn baby giraffe attempting to take its first steps. Melendez hesitantly turned to Jessica and stuck his hands in his pockets, "So...I'm guessing Andrews invited you?"

"Yes," Jessica nodded, "That and the law firm I work at now is a major donor to St. Bonaventure. Both my boss and Dr. Andrews felt it was best for me to attend the gala given my connections to the hospital and the fact that my grandfather was the founder."

"I see," nodded Melendez.

Jessica looked towards where Lim had walked away, though neither the surgeon nor the attorney could see her, "So...you and Audrey. Are you both...you know?"

Melendez sighed, but nodded, "Yes, we are."

Jessica figured just as much. Them being all giggly over a drink at last year's gala had meant something after all, "So did you start seeing each other right after we broke up?"

"No," Melendez assured quickly, "We've only been together since February. We got together under some...unique circumstances."
"I see," said Jessica. She noticed a few important donors, so she took the opportunity to excuse herself, "Well, those two people over there are important donors from one of the major law firms in San Jose, so I have to go thank them. It was nice seeing you, Neil."

"You too," he said politely and she left. He sighed and figured he'd start looking for Lim. Break up wasn't exactly the term he would use for his split with Jessica. Dumped by her was more like it as she had decided to break things off, leaving him heartbroken at the time.

He supposed it had been for the best though, because if he had married Jessica, he wouldn't have been able to start dating Lim and she made him really happy. He guessed he would never know, but he figured if he had married Jessica, he probably would be miserable right now. He couldn't find Lim anywhere so he finally approached Shaun and asked, "Dr. Murphy, do you know where Dr. Lim is?"

"She's at the bar," pointed Shaun.

"Thank you," said Melendez before he went over to the bar area and sat down next to Lim, "Audrey..."

"Leave me alone, Neil," said Lim, doing her best to keep herself composed.

"Audrey, I had no idea she was going to be here tonight," said Melendez.

Lim sighed and looked around the room, "Listen, we've been here for two and half hours, we've done our socializing, we've talked to the people who matter. Can we just go home now?"

"Of course," nodded Melendez. They got their coats and made a special point of saying goodbye to Andrews and Glassman before leaving the hospital.

Glassman finally looked over at Andrews and said, "I told you those two would eventually get together."

Lim was pretty quiet on the way home. Deathly quiet. The only sound Melendez heard her making was her breathing. When they arrived at Lim's house, she got out of the car, but stopped when Melendez didn't follow her, "Well, are you coming?"

"Yes, of course," he followed her into the house. They went inside and Lim immediately ditched the high heels before turning to face him, "I promise that encounter didn't mean anything tonight."

"Really? So you felt absolutely nothing when you saw your ex-fiancée, the woman you were once supposed to marry?" asked Lim.

"No, nothing. I promise you," assured Melendez.

"Because when I got back from the bathroom, you seemed pretty talkative with Jessica," reminded Lim.

"She was asking me questions, Audrey. What was I supposed to do? Be rude and ignore her? We both have past relationships you know?" shouted Melendez.

"I know, but given the fact that my last marriage was pretty shitty, I don't want to make the same mistake twice, so if you're going to be fraternizing with exes, then I'm out!" said Lim, "I was there the entire time, Neil; I know how much you cared about her."

"Yes, I did care about her at one time. I'm not going to deny it," said Melendez, "But we were on different paths in life and the past is the past. You don't have to worry about me going back to Jessica or her getting in the way of us!"

"How can I be so sure?"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, AUDREY!" Melendez blurted unintentionally.

Lim froze at first, but then stepped a little closer to him and asked, "What did you just say to me?" it was said in a stone cold tone.

"I mean..." Melendez stuttered, "Look, Audrey, I didn't mean to just blurt it out like that, but now that I've said it, I'm not going to apologize or take it back because it's the truth."

Lim didn't say anything for about two minutes, so Melendez figured it was all over. He was thoroughly surprised when she finally said, "Well, I love you too."

"There, we both said it," Melendez smiled.

"Yeah, we did," she chuckled nervously and then went to sit down on the couch. Melendez sat down next to her and she grabbed his hand, "You know, you're the first man I've said that to since Kashal."

Melendez nodded, recalling that Kashal was Lim's ex-husband, "Well if it makes you feel any better, I haven't said it to many women either."

She laughed as he cupped her face in his hands, "I knew I was feeling something towards you, I just didn't quite know what. You know me and feelings don't get along well."

"I disagree, Aud. You feel things passionately; it's just the expression of the emotions that doesn't get along well with you," teased Melendez.

She chuckled again and grabbed his hand, "I'm a little hungry because food at fancy galas..." she shuttered, "Want to order a pineapple and pepperoni pizza and call it a night?"

Melendez couldn't help but smile at how fast Lim could change a subject yet still make it feel completely natural, "Yes."