Pairing : Dr. Ethan Ramsey x f!MC (Dr. Meera Bose) Summary : Set after five years from OH3. Tired by Ethan's lack of commitment Meera had deliberately decided on taking her career as far as she could from Boston. But what happens when she meets him unexpectedly, and how much has her life changed in the past years? Category : Angst Warnings : Nothing that I can remember of. Ratings : Teen Word Count : 2498
A/N : I was tired of the OH3 shit show and had started writing this. Because if Rethan Amsey was the original Ethan Ramsey, no doubt Meera would end up doing this. But I stopped writing this after the finale because we did get an ily. But then I started again to submit this as my oph surgery (@openheartfanfics ) this is also my submission for @choicesjunechallenge2021 Day 13 : Nightmares.
A/N 2 : The title is inspired from the Mohit Chauhan song Yeh Dooriyan. I have also included it's lyrics in the fic, that will appear in italics. For non hindi speakers I have tried and translated the lyrics to English that will appear in brackets. Hope it helps. I am linking the song below, because there is a chance you feel like listening to this after reading the fic.
Happy Reading Guys! 💕
She had to leave, she absolutely had to. Meera's eyes gleamed, almost at the verge of tears when she realised that these two situations five years apart were so similar yet so different. She hastily got into her designated Porsche, wanting to get away from the venue as soon as she could, as fast as she could.
An upbeat song was playing from the music system. Not feeling the song or the vibe she asked for the music to be changed, almost shouting. The elderly chauffeur fumbled with the buttons and to her surprise one of her favourite bollywood song started playing.
A bollywood song in Germany? She thought to herself but asked the chauffeur to let the song play.
Kyun koi paas hai.
(Why is someone near)
Door hai kyun koi.
(and someone else is far)
Jaane na koi yahan pe.
(No one here knows the reason behind this)
The lyrics took her back five years, a sunny day in Boston.
Meera was tired. She was tired of going after Ethan for three long years. Being the clear headed straight forward woman that she is, Meera was clear from their first kiss in Miami. But she was ready to give Ethan time until he was ready to commit.
But Ethan neither worked towards making amends nor did he try to make their relationship better. When he ran off to Amazon, Meera still decided on giving more time, but a near death experience couldn't make him say the three words.
In her last year of residency she stayed beside Ethan as he fought through the malicious plans of Bloom. She was there with her at the ethics hearing but Ethan didn't even feel like thanking her, and ofcourse not saying the words she was longing to hear for so long.
Rather he threatened to forget all of their personal and professional relations. Meera expected him to wish her good luck for her boards if not as her partner but atleast as her mentor but Ethan was unable to fulfil that expectation too.
Meera often had mental breakdowns thinking about her future and whether this relationship had any chance in the days ahead. But she was clear on one thing, she could very clearly feel that she was no longer needed or wanted in Dr. Ethan Ramsey's life.
Meera contemplated, going over her offer letters again and again. She had received offers from the top hospitals all over the world. Five to be exact, excluding Edenbrook which she would have happily called her home if it wasn't for one grumpy doctor.
Finally she decided on the farthest one from Boston, from Edenbrook, from Ethan. She wrote down an acceptance letter to the Singapore General Hospital as tears rolled down her cheeks. She had to leave, she absolutely had to.
Aa raha paas ya door mein ja raha
(Am I coming near or am I drifting away)
Janu na mein hoon kahan pe
(I don't know where I'm)
The song continued on the music system. Meera now feeling tipsy from the couple flutes of champagne that she had. Her makeup now smudged by tears.
She drifted into another memory as the song continued.
Kabhi hua yeh bhi
(This happened sometime)
Khali rahon pe bhi
Tu tha mere saath
(You were there with me on empty roads)
Meera had gone back to India for a short while before joining at the new hospital. It was her cousin's wedding and all the aunties could only talk about all the eligible bachelors they had, that would be perfect for Meera.
Meera mostly smiled and ignored them as much as she could. Exhausted she made a beeline for the bar hoping to get a breather. There she met Siddharth.
A fine handsome man who had offered his assistance when Meera had drunk too much of her sorrows. The next morning after she found out that he had literally carried her to her hotel room, she felt embarrassed and the need to apologise to him.
When sober Meera had a proper look at Siddharth she couldn't help but feel a heat rising to her cheeks. To make it up to him Siddharth had asked her out, and Meera definitely wasn't going to say no.
They got to talking and she found out that their dads were actually pretty good friends. Siddharth was a junior manager at Bank of Singapore and was living there for around four years. He offered to show Meera around and she was happy to have a friend in an unknown country.
Six months into their friendship they slept for the first time together. Meera just needed a fling, anything to take her mind off anything she had left back at Boston. But it wasn't wise of her to turn the only friend in a new country into a one night stand.
Siddharth clearly started having feelings for her and to avoid the awkwardness Meera decided on dating him. So what had just started as a rebound to Meera quickly escalated to marriage. Mostly because of outside pressures from their parents who were elated to know that they had started dating each other.
Meera decided to make this marriage work because otherwise it was going to be unfair to Siddharth and she couldn't let that happen. But how could she when that one attending haunted her every night.
She might have kept no contact with him but she followed medical journals and tabloids to try and keep an eye on him. Last she had read that the famous Dr. Ethan Ramsey was thinking about an early retirement.
As tears stained her cheek she hugged her tablet close, moving her fingers over the Dr.'s features one last time before promising to cut off all remaining ties with him. Siddharth had proposed to her when they were dating for a year and a half. Within a year they were married.
She was going to give her hundred percent to this marriage because Dr. Ramsey had his chance and he missed it, but now it was time to have the happy ending she deserved. This is what she told herself before walking down the aisle.
Kabhi tujhe milke lauta
(Sometimes after meeting you)
Mera dil yeh khali khali haath
(My heart came back empty handed)
Yeh bhi hua kabhi
(This happened sometimes)
Jaise hua aabhi
(Like it happened now)
Tujhko sabhi mein paa liya
(I found you in everything around me)
The tears in her eyes had now dried up. Meera just sat beside the window, watching the beautiful Germany citylights woosh by. She felt suffocated in her custom made Carolina Herrera deep blue gown and Gucci stilettos. Deep blue a colour she had started loving since an unfortunate kiss in Miami, which now felt like ages ago to her.
Tera mujhe kar jaati hai dooriyan
(These distances make me yours)
Satati hain dooriyan
(These distances torment me)
Tarsati hain dooriyan
(These distances make me yearn)
Fanah ho sabhi dooriyan
(May all these distances end)
Life in Singapore was going great for Meera. She had started making great progress in her career, slowly but steadily climbing the ladder of hierarchy to the top of the hospital.
She had a lovely husband by her side. Over the years she had really started falling for Siddharth and they really made an impeccable couple.
But the problems started two years into their marriage when Meera became a little too successful for Siddharth to handle. He started becoming insecure, often arguing why Meera had to go on night shifts and accusing her of other affairs.
They started arguing on the smallest matter, and the only way to stop arguing was hate fucking each other. The relationship grew extremely toxic. Meera tried to give her everything, she tried innumerable times to make Siddharth understand how important her job was but he just wasn't ready to listen and accept.
On their second anniversary Meera decided to go all out. She took a day off from the hospital and cooked for Siddharth all day, making all of his favourite delicacies. In the evening Meera changed into a sultry lace gown with candles and food ready for her husband.
But he didn't show up, instead a package arrived in the mail which contained their divorce papers and a note. The note said he would accept her only if she decided on giving up her career and job.
Meera broke down again the words of a Boston attending coming to haunt her after all these years. "I need to be able to push you to your limits. To help you become the doctor you want to be. The one I know you can be."
She signed on the divorce paper and cried herself to sleep that night. The next morning she packed her things from the apartment and moved into an Air BnB until she found a better place.
The invitation to the medical conference and award ceremony came as a blessing in disguise to Meera. She actually hadn't been on a vacation since her honeymoon because of her busy schedule and she had rejected lots of conferences like this to spend more time with her ex husband.
But now two weeks after divorce she felt like a free bird and Germany sounded absolutely perfect. She had to leave, she absolutely had to.
Kaha bhi na mene
(I didn't even say that)
Nahi jeena mene
(I don't want to live)
Tu jo na mila
( If I don't have you)
The song continued as if telling the story of her life. Meera couldn't believe what happened at the award ceremony today. Never in her life did she think of meeting this familiar face again.
Tujhe bhule se bhi na
(Even by mistake)
Bola na mene chahun fasla
(I didn't say that I wanted this separation)
Bas fasla rahein
(Now this separation remains)
Ban ke kasak jo kahen
(Becoming a pain)
Ho aur chahat yeh aur jawan
(And it's saying, may our love always be young)
Meera landed in Germany two days prior to the conference. Breathing in the crisp autumn air she felt at peace after a very long time. She had two days of time to explore and enjoy herself and she fully utilised it.
The morning of the conference, the organising committee had asked her to do the honour of presenting the award to the doctor for his lifetime service in the field of medicine.
Meera was thrilled and was thankful she had her custom made gown. She decided to look her very best that day. As she got down from her designated Porsche and walked into the venue she turned a lot of heads.
Some of the young doctors even approached her for small talk, but Meera was done with men. She was just here to enjoy herself.
Many awards later Meera was ushured to the backstage and handed an envelope. After announcing the category and her name Meera strode onto the stage head held high, heels tapping on the stage.
"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, it's an honour for me to present this prestigious award for lifetime service in the field of medicine to----" Meera paused opening the envelope.
She froze as soon as she read the name inside the envelope. No this can't happen, this is a dream, a nightmare. But she had to continue despite the tumult that her heart is going into.
"----Dr. Ethan Ramsey." Meera said, forcing a smile with all her might. She was saying this name aloud after half a decade and still couldn't believe all of this was really happening.
Meera looked into the audience hoping the absence of the winner, atleast the Ethan she knew wouldn't be willing to be there socialising with a bunch of people he didn't even like.
But five years is a lot of time and people do change so she saw the blue eyed doctor stand from his table at the back and make his way towards the stage.
She was ready with the award in her hand, her heart doing plunges at 150 beats per minute, seeing this man after so many years.
As he came closer, Meera could tell he hadn't aged at all since she had left him in Boston. Although it did seem like he didn't sleep well. Few rough nights Meera thought, or weeks, or maybe years, who knows. The blue eyes stared back into her browns as he took his place beside her.
The cheers and claps from the audience dying down and all Meera could see was the lips of her former boyfriend and how she had missed kissing him. Their fingers brush ever so slightly while handing over the award and Meera feeling goosebumps right away.
Accepting the award, Dr. Ramsey began, "Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I haven't been a fan of awards like this before, but I have been attending all the medical conferences for the last five years because of a very important reason, and today the reason is fulfilled."
He stopped glancing at Meera, who was still in shock to be within feets of him. "Long time back I had said to one of my interns, 'Being a doctor means you always lose in the end,' and surprisingly I did win professionally but I lost in my personal life. But today I am happy to accept this award and moreover, happy to accept it from Dr. Bose one of the brightest doctors in her generation," Ethan offered her a smile that quite didn't reach his eyes.
Meera felt like although Ethan was addressing the entire audience, the words were actually for her. As soon as the audience began to applaud it was their cue to exit the stage but for Meera it was her cue to flee. She didn't waste a single minute. Making her way out of the venue. She stopped for picking up two flutes of champagne downing them in one go.
She walked as fast as her pencil heel shoes could carry her. Hastily getting into her designated Porsche. She had to leave, she absolutely had to.
Teri meri mit jaani hai dooriyan
(These distances between us will end)
Begani hai dooriyan
(These distances are strange)
Hat jani dooriyan
(These distances will go away)
Fanah ho sabhi dooriyan
(May all these distances end)
The song ended so did Meera's story and her journey from the venue to her hotel. She made her way to the elevator and her room, getting rid of her gown and getting into her pajamas at once.
Next she opened her laptop looking for the earliest ticket to Singapore. Irrespective of the price she booked the earliest she could.
Meera didn't think she could sleep that night but exhaustion and alcohol had other plans for her body. She cried herself to sleep once again, having all these emotions and feelings which she didn't know how to control. But she knew she had to leave, she absolutely had to.
Thank you so much if you have read till here, it means the world to me. Hope to see you go on other different adventures with me, Ethan and Meera, till then sending love and hugs your way! ❤️
While i LOVE Ethan Ramsey with all my heart, I'm not sure how i think about his age difference MC.
I mean, he's like 10? 11?
Personally, I think is a good age difference. Beyond 14-15 years it would become problematic (I say this as someone who has dated and liked older guys than me so you can disagree with me).
However, what makes this relationship problematic - more than age difference- is the fact that Ethan is in a position of power over MC. He's their boss/mentor. Even if he wouldn't use his position to get MC, the fact that he's their boss is enough.
I say he wouldn't use his position to get MC based only on his personality (the fact that he ran away and was hesitant to any romantic involving with MC proves that, because he didn't want to jeopardize their career) because the awful coding transforms Ethan to a horrible harrasser if you don't romance him. He doesn't coerce you, but he has suggestive interactions with MC to the point of being harassing (in his kitchen, the BDSM etc). So I wouldn't say Ethan is abusive himself, it's the bad coding that makes you see him that way when you're not interested in him.
And if you add gender to this equation? uffff a lot more questionable (reprochable) if your MC is a woman 😔 The kitchen scene in book 1 was a red flag for PB to fix the problem, but when it happened again in the cabin in book 2, and again in book 3 with the bdsm scene, it's really disappointing to see his they don't care about non-Ethan-romancers and how they're normalizing delicate and abusive situations that could even trigger some thoughts or feelings in some readers.
Anyway, I know this confession was more simple than that but I kinda woke up opinionated today 😂
(Obligatory not a fic; but I talk too much for my gripes with Open Heart to fit in an ask lol) I think the worst thing that PB ever did was make Book 2's and 3's diagnostics team a case-of-the-week deal like MC's internship was. A couple reasons:
There is little distinction between MC's intern work and their supposedly super important (by magnitude!) diagnostics work, except that they're in a different room. They work with different people now, but they approach cases in the exact same way, solve them in the same way, and move on from one patient to the next in the same way. It gives the feeling that MC didn't really learn anything, and is just going by status quo.
Too many comical / overly-simple cases. I get it, not everything can be a world-ending revelation or a great tragedy, but this team was presented as the last gatekeeper between a patient and their disease going unsolved forever. Supposedly, patients were only sent to Edenbrook's nationally-famous team of doctors after every other option has been exhausted. And yet every second case is something like... a girl who ate too much beets? A funny or easily-solved case every now and then for levity is just fine, welcome even; but when it becomes 50/50 with the team's serious cases it becomes a tonal problem. Is MC's workplace wacky and patients quirky or are they struggling to handle loss and tragedy? If the plot focused around one huge, central case, and the comical patients were small side-cases involving the interns that MC is also supposed to be teaching, there would be much, much less of a whiplash shift in the tone of MC's work and you can actually include the interns teased in Book 1.
The cases end too quickly to develop character, and in the sequels the patients aren't important to MC's development as a person anymore as the patients are just 'go from A to B'. The option if this occurs is to lean more into the technical side of things, introducing more of the science and medical mystery, or the politics and interpersonal relationships in the hospital itself, but this isn't done either in any satisfying way. Nothing stops so anything can be fleshed out.
Imagine if instead of the attack in Book 2 ch. 10 being literally a 2-chapter deal that's swiftly forgotten about, the lead poisoning case was the entire plot of Book 2 and the attack was the climax of such. A big case which gets the proper gravity it deserves, and the politics leak in as the diagnostics team unfortunately slowly loses funding to go out and investigate the town to try and figure out what's making this mayor & his people sick, perform tests, etc. Culminating in the final 'aha!' when it turns out that the mayor's negligence is poisoning the town's water - and not only that, but his aide is all murder-y! Queue attack, probably not how PB did it, but an attack on the hospital nonetheless that results in MC fighting for their life. Also, toss out the whole "we synthesized a cure for a previously incurable poison in one night through the power of friendship" because that's kind of really fucking stupid. A lot of poisons are both deadly and hard to detect, just use one of those. Anyway, while they're trying to figure out what's killing MC, a mysterious tech giant offers vast amounts of outside help - money, resources, and equipment - to the ailing hospital to save the young doctor who bravely tried to stop the attack and thanks to those resources the diagnosis and found and yay MC lives! However the press fallout, cost of cleanup, etc. is too much for Edenbrook who was already on the cusp and the place would have gone bankrupt... if that tech giant hadn't scooped it up. Edenbrook is saved....? End book. A much more natural way to integrate Bloom into it, I think.
I haven't played Book 3 past chapter 6 so idk what the overarching plot is like, but in my version the "BIG CASE" would probably just be Bloom's wife and slowly finding out Bloom didn't buy the hospital out of patriotism and actually took advantage of the situation bc interior motives. idk.
Tobias was disappointing. Aside from annoy Ethan he could have just been lifted from the story. I would have preferred if the writers had removed the Harper jealousy and did Ethan be jealous of MC and Tobias' friendship.
From a romantic perspective it could have worked because of E and T's past and from a mentor perspective as T took Ethans place whilst he was absent.
They could have kept the push and pull of their romantic relationship going then as well without having Ethan push MC away for stupid reasons. Although we all know the LIs should have been locked in mid book two so it should have been loved up fluff all the way.
This 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻
So much potential, wasted… and for what? 😔
Tobias was one of the best things in book 3 and Pb did him dirty by not giving him a storyline. The jealousy we could have had platonically/romantically. Ethan and MC looking over their shoulder waiting for Tobias to stab them in the back.
> send in your oph theories, plot fixers, comments etc <
I think most of the fandom realise that Ethan becoming Chief is ridiculous. Some are maybe trying to pass it off as character growth - part of his acceptance that sometimes things have to change.
Except, he always requested MC's help whenever he had to endure speaking to reps, dignitaries and the like - all the kinds of people he'd have to have meetings with much more regularly as Chief. We never saw him learn to deal with them alone, so what? Is he supposed to just keep asking MC to accompany him...what if MC decided to leave Edenbrook?! 😂
It would have made more sense for Naveen to ask him to be ACTING Chief of Medicine, with the reason being that he trusts Ethan to find someone who would be ideal for the permanent role. (Because, having given his notice to the board, he didn't feel he'd have enough time himself to find someone)
MC could then have been offered the opportunity to be acting team leader, with the potential (if they continued to excel) for them to keep the position even after Ethan steps down from Chief.
Although still a bit farfetched, (I'm sure in reality, the board would have a far greater say in who becomes Chief) it would have felt more natural for the characters.
This makes so much sense!
I’m definitely one of those people who agree it’s totally ooc for him to willingly become administration - and the TOP admin at that. considering i hc he was super betrayed when harper accepted the position he’s a total hypocrite...
Though.. I can see him accepting the position because Naveen and MC have faith in him. And bc it means he can give MC his position.
> send in your oph theories, plot fixers, comments etc <
I feel like so many people miss her and I'm still salty about how terrible of a person she was to MC 😭😂
I don't like who June became. I'm totally here for morally ambiguous characters that make you think, but she was just kind of pointless imo
It feels like she was going to have her own mini plot that was retconned during the rewrites. Now that June Hirata I'd totally love and hate and would 100% choose the "go to hell!" option on her last day.
In my little world, June was working with Tobias to overthrow Ethan and take his job. She'd use all the ammo she could get and bring up how close E and MC are, which becomes a whole big thing whether you romance him or not (and if you do it leads to and ily bc why tf not if you have to disclose intentions to the whole damn faculty).
Behind his shy guy attitude, Rafael had a kinky side we never got to know/appreciate and you can't convince me otherwise... that's the only explanation I can find for the sex scene he had in book 1, chapter 16, when he still was recovering from his surgery at the hospital! 😂
OMG YES!! TOTALLY.
I don't know how's the saying in English but in my country (and I think in Latin America in general) we say "los calladitos son los peores" like "the quiet/shy ones are the worst", like they (we) all look super quiet but they have all these hidden depths and preferences and kinks no one could imagine 👀 just like Raf sjdbdis
So yeah, so bad we couldn't get to know that shade of Raf 😞
i love how PB literally forgot that they made mass kenmore integrate with Solomon Health - when Aurora says she’s transferring to Kenmore, she still refers to it as MK. Someone should just make a list of inconsistencies in oph3 from the previous 2 😭
YES! HOW YOU FORGET SOMETHING LIKE THAT WHEN THE MERGING WAS A BIG PLOT TWIST IN BOOK 2!🤦🏻♀️
There's not only personality inconsistencies but also so many plot inconsistencies 🙄
For example, that Bryce had returned to Hawaii after he left for college?? And he had FRIENDS there?? Complete contradiction to what he said in book 2.
And so on...
Has anyone done a list of all the inconsistencies through the series?? I think I'm gonna replay the books just to call out PB for all their mistakes 😂
