Thank you everyone for your comments, those make sense.

I suppose if I bet the flop, with the intent of re-raising a raise from the small blind, then I get a much better read on what his hand is like. Also, I put the onus on him to try and guess that I don't have the flush myself.

Either way I probably push him off the hand or pin him on a flush and fold, and then I don't lose as many chips as I ultimately did in the hand.

Guess it was a good learning experience, thank you again.