Page 118 of Fixation

“Oh, I can’t watch!” Reina hid her face against Vedant’s chest. “Rajiv is pounding the life out of Mihir.”

The atmosphere around them was tense, violent and bloody. Mihir and Rajiv were sparring in the centre of the ring. Actually, Rajiv was sparring; Mihir was just accepting every hit Rajiv was giving him. Both of them were dressed only in gym shorts, their hands wrapped in white tape.

Vedant palmed her cheeks. “Hey, it’s all good. My brother owes it to him. He’s paying the price for kidnapping a friend’s sister.”

“Not this way, he shouldn’t,” Reina mumbled. She looked to the side and winced.

Rajiv was raining a flurry of blows on Mihir. As before, Mihir didn’t even defend himself. He took the attack calmly. The corner of his mouth was bleeding, and so was his forehead.

“Oh God, Mihir looks awful,” Reina groaned.

“I’m glad to see you worrying about him,” Vedant said.

“I do,” Reina replied. “He’s your brother, and I like him. He pretends to be a grouch all the time, but he’s a softie inside. Of course, I don’t like how he’s with Ananya, but that is something neither of us can do anything about.”

Vedant laughed. Over the last week, he’d seen Reina spending a lot of time with his brothers. While she already had a good relationship with Armaan, he was happy to note that she was getting along well with Mihir too.

Rajiv levelled a hard jab on Mihir’s face. Mihir didn’t duck. Shit. This was indeed getting too much now. Vedant checked the time. Two more minutes were left until the two of them sparred as equals. Besides him and Reina, Armaan, Navya, and Sheena also watched the fight from the side.

“Rajiv looks mad,” Navya said. “I’ve never seen him that mad.”

Sheena huffed out a breath. “I hate this.”

The sound of running footsteps made them all turn.

“Shit, I got late,” Ananya panted. “What’s happening?”

Armaan made a face. “Rajiv is thrashing Mihir.”

“Good, it’s high time.” Ananya’s face dropped into a cool mask.

Armaan scowled, but Ananya remained unfazed, her eyes glued to the men in the ring.

Mihir and Rajiv circled one another.

“How could you?” Rajiv stormed. “She’s my sister. I was just beginning to like you, and you go and do this.”

“To be fair,” Mihir began, “I did this before you started liking me.”

Rajiv slammed a fist to Mihir’s jaw.

Mihir staggered back. He twisted his head from side to side.

“If you ever do something like this again which involves one of my sisters, then our friendship is over,” Rajiv said aloud.

“Do you really think I’d hurt the women my brothers are in love with?” Mihir retaliated.

Rajiv threw his fist in the air. It caught Mihir’s face, sending his head flying back.

Armaan groaned. He exchanged a frustrated look with Vedant. Vedant felt his desperation and irritation. It was hard to watch their brother get beaten up and not be able to do anything. But this had to play out this way for things to be back to normal between Mihir and Rajiv. The two of them circled one another again.

“I know you won’t hurt Navya and Reina,” Rajiv said. “I do have one more sister who seems to be obsessed withyou. Or areyouobsessed withher?”

“Fucking hell,” Ananya swore loudly.

Mihir’s gaze locked in on her for a brief moment. His eyes turned feral. Rajiv swung his fist out, but this time, Mihir defended his blow. In fact, Mihir blocked every punch Rajiv threw his way. Vedant checked the time. The five minutes were up. Now, the fight was going to be fair and, judging from his brother’s expression, gruesome.

“Tell your sister to never cross my path,” Mihir stormed. “And you and I won’t have a problem.”

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