Page 19 of Fixation

“I suppose you know who I am,” Armaan stated.

Reina pocketed her glasses. “Of course, I know you.”

“Why the name Dr. Singh?”

“You asking me that means Navya hasn’t told you about our past.”

He frowned in confusion. His reaction confirmed that he still hadn’t cleared things with Navya.

“Does she know that you’re treating my brother?” Armaan asked.

Reina put her hands in her coat’s pockets. “What do you think?”

He looked sad as he answered, “Shit. She will be mad when she finds out.”

“They all will be,” Reina replied stiffly. “You see, I was the emergency doctor on call the night Vedant was brought in. His pulse was low, and he was losing a lot of blood. We didn’t evenhave time to wait for a senior surgeon. I took a call to operate on him, and I suppose it was the right call.”

“You saved his life.”

“Yes, which Mihir understood the second he reached the hospital. He brought me and a few others from my team here and has held us hostage since then. We aren’t allowed to step outside the grounds. We are given our phones only twice a day, and we can only make calls to our immediate family to assure them we are alright, that too only in the presence of your guards.” Seeing him ready to argue, she held a hand out, stopping him. “Yes, you can argue that we can roam the grounds freely and make use of your numerous in-house facilities, but it still doesn’t compare to being free. I’ve been forced to lie to my family. They continue to believe that I’m staying at my apartment and that I have a tough few work weeks ahead.”

“I’m so sorry,” Armaan said.

Her gaze jumped to his. Honesty and remorse shone in his eyes. For a long time, she had thought that the Oshnovs were all bad men. All their interactions with her family proved it.

As for Armaan, until recently, she’d thought of him as the man Navya was trying hard not to be attracted to. But then she’d heard how her sister had fallen for him. Armaan’s refusal to communicate with Navya was hurting her sister, which made her annoyed with him as well. But now, talking to him one-on-one, she felt she had perhaps judged him harshly.

At her silence, he repeated, “I truly am sorry, Reina, that you got stuck in this.”

“You are apologising? To me? Why?”

“Because you’rehersister,” he said, sounding tired. “And because Mihir only had Vedant’s best interests at heart when he brought you here and gave you all these instructions. Trust me, it is safer for you too. Do my brothers know who you are?”

“No.”

Armaan squinted, thinking. His face was clear when he spoke next. “Mihir knows.”

“What?”

“My brother wouldn’t have allowed any of you to set foot inside this house and entrusted Vedant’s care to you all without doing a thorough background check on everyone. He knows. I’m certain. What he doesn’t know is that I also know who you are.”

“As long as Vedant doesn’t know, it’s fine,” she muttered.

“Why?”

“As you’ve witnessed, he already behaves difficult with me. I’d rather not have him know that I’m related to the women who share a not-so-great history with his brothers. He’d probably make my life tougher.”

“He won’t, and Vedant’s really not that bad,” Armaan explained.

“Thus far, he’s not done a single thing that makes me believe otherwise.” She clucked her tongue. “He’s rude, annoying, and thinks he can get everything with the click of a finger.”

Armaan chuckled. “He’s acting up because he hates being ill.”

“Sure, let’s go with that excuse.”

“I’m being honest, Reina,” Armaan said. “He’s a good guy.”

She shrugged. This wasn’t an argument she was ever winning with him, so she refused to say anything more on it.

---