Page 14 of Fixation

“The wound is looking better,” she said aloud, still not looking at his face. “If it continues this way, then we can get rid of the bandages within a week, provided you don’t put pressure on it. Even the bruise around your rib is subsiding. Does it pain when you breathe?”

He inhaled and exhaled. “There is discomfort. But I can mostly manage through it.”

“Good.”

She stepped back, removing the gloves, while Stefan rewrapped the bandage and helped him wear his shirt again. Even that much movement tired him out and made his arm hurt. He gritted his teeth.

“Mr. Oshnov?—”

“—call me Vedant.”

“Mr. Oshnov,” she repeated defiantly, “You need to let me know whenever you are in pain, especially when it’s unbearable.”

“Why? I’m already sleeping so much,” he groused. “You’ll just give me more painkillers, and then I won’t even wake up as much as I am right now.”

She gave some instructions to Stefan, who handed her two syringes. She quickly went to work doing exactly what he had said.

Vedant yawned and pointed at his leg. “When will this cast come off?”

“I need your leg to be immobilised for at least a week more. You were lucky that no bone was broken there, but the injury was severe, and the surgery to correct it, very delicate. If all goes well, we can remove it in a week.”

The door opened and the other two ladies on his medical care team hurried inside. They looked from her to the trolley filled with gauze and cotton pads and glared at her.

“Hey, not fair,” the nurse whispered, but he could hear her clearly. “You should have waited for us, Reina.”

Reina? So Dr. Singh’s name was Reina. Nice. He liked it.

“Stefan,” Dr. Singh, Reina, looked to the side, “Please wait here, while I have a word with these two ladies.”

She linked a hand in each of their arms and dragged them out. While he couldn’t hear Reina’s voice, he could hear the other two clearly.

“You were to wait for us to change his dressing,” Su Min, the nurse, complained.

“I want to see his…” Dr. Jones said.

Their voices were silenced as Reina shut the door behind her. He looked at Stefan, who pretended he hadn’t heard any of that, as he diligently looked into the clipboard.

The women in his medical team had been talking about him, clearly. No wonder Reina had been staring at his abs. He chuckled, but even that changed into a yawn. He grimaced. He was so weak these days.

Before his attack, he was heavily into his workouts and fight training. And he’d been with enough women to know that every single one of them appreciated his body. But so far, none of their opinions had mattered. Being with them had simply been a means to have a good time. But for some peculiar reason, he found himself wondering what Reina had been thinking when she’d been ogling his abs.

He smiled. He felt so many mixed emotions around his doctor, ranging from anger to irritation to annoyance. And now, suddenly, intrigue was added to the mix. He was intrigued to know what she thought of him. But why did he care about her opinion? Before he could figure out the answer to that, his eyes shut, and he drifted off to sleep.

5

“You fuckers. Stop looking at me like I’m dead,” Vedant said aloud in Russian, his voice rough. He’d opened his eyes this morning to the best surprise ever. His brothers were here.

However, seeing Armaan and Mihir standing at the door, looking miserable as they observed him lying wounded and injured on a fucking care bed, was upsetting him more than he’d imagined. His chest constricted as he saw them surreptitiously try and wipe tears from their eyes. Armaan and Mihir were his world. He’d let them both down when he’d taken the risk by going out alone that night, knowing that Ivan was targeting them.

Since it was early morning, Stefan had been attending to him as usual. With a nod at Armaan, he left the room, leaving Vedant alone with his brothers.

Armaan rushed to him, Mihir following right behind.

“How are you?” Mihir asked him. “Do you feel better?”

“No better than when we spoke last,” Vedant replied. “When was that? Yesterday? Today? I’ve lost track of time. I’ve been sleeping a lot.”

“That’s good,” Armaan said.

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