"Come on, old man! Can't you go any faster?" Lim called behind her.
"Hey, I'm not that much older than you! I'm only a little less than six months older than you," Melendez scolded jokingly as he caught up to her, "And you made me carry all of the stuff for our picnic when you know damn well you're perfectly capable of doing so yourself."
"Maybe so," agreed Lim, "But you might as well put those muscles of yours to good use," she smirked and kissed him.
Melendez kissed her back but whispered, "Later."
Lim pulled back disappointingly and said, "Alright, but I expect you to keep your promise," they both continued walking along the trail, "What did you pack for lunch anyways?"
Melendez gave his cocky smile and said, "You'll see."
Lim chuckled and grabbed Melendez's hand, "Why do you always insist on trying to be so mysterious?"
"Don't all ladies like a man of mystery?" asked Melendez.
Lim stopped and tilted her head, "Maybe. Now let's keep going. I want to be able to see that waterfall."
They kept walking hand in hand. It felt nice to be able to show some intimacy without fear of being caught. Being in a secret relationship certainly did have its disadvantages. Melendez had often wanted to ask Lim how long she planned on staying in hiding. If they were actually going to pursue a long-term relationship, they couldn't keep it a secret forever. He never pressured her though. He figured the quickest way to get dumped would be to force her to go public with the relationship and he didn't want to ruin what they already had going.
Once they finally reached the waterfall, they both couldn't help but gaze at it in awe, "It's so beautiful," Lim said as she walked over to the falls.
"Well, I have double the beauty right in front of me," Melendez admitted.
"Neil," Lim scolded lightly, "You're laying on the compliments a little thick today, aren't you?"
"Hardly, when it's the truth," Melendez came up beside her, wrapped his arm around her, and kissed her temple.
Lim stayed silent for a while before she said, "It reminds me of the first time my father took me to see the Taroko Gorge when I was five. Josh and I insisted on racing to the gorge and my little legs could barely keep up with him," she chuckled at the memory.
Melendez glanced over at her when she brought up her father. She had never really talked about him before now. She had only discussed her mother and brother. He took a deep breath and said, "I remember camping in RVs at Big Bend National Park with my entire family. At least fifteen or so of us shoved in two, maybe three, RVs."
"How did that go?" asked Lim curiously.
"Oh we all tried to kill each other, but I guess that's what happens when all of the boys are in one RV and all of the girls are in another," admitted Melendez, "Let's just say my primo, Enrique, and I did not get along well when we were kids. Always told me I was too sure of myself."
"You? Too sure of yourself?" asked Lim sarcastically, "Never!"
"Funny," said Melendez, "Let's go find one of the picnic areas. I don't know about you but I'm starving."
They snapped a few pictures of the waterfalls and Lim followed her boyfriend, "You're always hungry."
They soon arrived at one of the picnic grounds and Melendez spread out the blanket. He opened the cooler and said, "Lunch is served."
Lim glanced inside the cooler and found two peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches, two bags of salt and vinegar chips, and two Sprites, "Did you really recreate the lunch I ate every day as a resident?"
"You bet I did," Melendez said proudly.
Lim chuckled and took a bite of her sandwich, "I didn't even know you paid attention to me that much. Unless it was to try to gain something on me."
"I noticed a lot of things about you," he commented, "The way you had a laser sharp focus in the operating room, how you would read the latest comic book or Harry Potter book in the break room during your lunch hour, how I had the game of guessing which comic book character you would have on your t-shirt that day, and how you loved me competing with you even though you refused to show it because it made you do better."
Lim fiddled with the edge of the blanket. She didn't quite know how to respond, so she asked, "So if you took that much notice of me, why didn't you ask me out?"
Melendez sighed and took a sip of his soda, "I don't know," he admitted, "Because you scared me."
"I scared you," she raised an eyebrow.
"You were smart. You aced every surgery you were thrown into. You still rode a motorcycle even after treating a motorcycle crash victim. You carried yourself with poise. How was some young kid from San Antonio supposed to land a girl like you?" Melendez asked.
Lim scooted closer to him, "I don't know. How did you?" Melendez didn't know how to answer the question because he wasn't quite sure how he did get her to agree to date him. They threw away their trash and packed everything up before going back to their car, spending the rest of the afternoon planning their next few days before they headed to dinner. They ordered a few beers and their meals before they stayed silent. Lim finally broke the silence, "You were wearing black dress pants, a light yellow dress shirt, your lab coat, and that cocky grin of yours."
"I'm sorry?" asked Melendez.
"When I first saw you: that's what you were wearing. They claim if you truly love someone, then you remember what they were wearing when you first laid eyes on them. You were schmoozing with every other resident and surgeon in the conference room. You were so damn sure of yourself and I was just this resident who rode what was collectively known as a donorcycle, who didn't know the difference between a French braid and a fish tale braid, and was branded as the weird one. I never thought a confident man like you would ever want to date a tomboy like me."
Melendez laughed, "Yes, that may all be true, but it was your uniqueness that made me drawn to you. I don't want you to ever change."
"Good. Because if you did, I'd dump your sorry ass right here, right now, and find a man who'd take me as I am."
Melendez squeezed her hand and said, "Well, lucky for you, you don't have to look far."