Page 27 of Fixation

His eyes swooped to hers, searching her face, grateful for her encouraging words.

“Spasibo. I mean, thank you for saying that,” he said. “I guess I needed to hear it.”

She looked at him again. “I’ve always believed that a positive mind will give you positive results. Believe you will get better, and you will.”

He gave her a small smile. “You sound like a matron I once had.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Mrs. Braganza always taught us the power of positive manifestation. She said, if you truly want something, the universe will bow down to you and give it to you.”

Reina smiled. “She sounds like a very intelligent woman.”

“She was… is the best.” He looked into the distance. “I’m not sure I paid much attention to her back then. I suppose I ought to start now.”

“You should.” She stretched her legs out. “I read that you and your brothers were orphans before you were adopted by Alexander Oshnov.”

His eyes brightened. “You’ve been reading on me.”

It thrilled him to know she was inquisitive enough about him to take the time to read up on him.

She clucked her tongue. “We are not allowed access to the internet and to the outside world, as you must already know. There is only so much TV one can watch in a day and your library has a lot of magazines with articles on you and your brothers. They help pass the time.”

“So, you read up on me to simply pass the time?” he queried, feeling rather amused.

Her chin rose. “Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“You found thefewold magazines that carry articles about me and read them because you weren’t curious at all. Sure, I believe you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Anyway, what I was trying to say before you interrupted is that you must have manifested a good life for yourself and your brothers, because how else could three orphan boys land up being heirs to one of the richest fortunes in the world.”

He smiled. “Actually, that was all Armaan. He is a big believer in positive manifestation.”

She smiled too. “Perhaps you should learn from him and believe that you will get better. Like I said, if you believe, then you will.”

“If only I had listened to Mihir and not gone alone for that meeting…” his voice trailed off.

“So, you do blame yourself for your attack,” she said. “Those people got to you because they caught you at the wrong time. Do you truly want to remain vulnerable and give them that opportunity again, or do you want to recover and show them that they failed? Maybe it’s high time you stopped fixating on your attack. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, and focus all your energy on healing.”

He gaped at her. She truly didn’t mince her words, and he… he liked it.

“I… I never thought of it that way,” he gulped. “I miss my brothers. They’ve just been gone a few hours, and yet it’s hard without them. For the longest, we’ve only had one another. I wish they could have stayed longer, but we have a huge business to run.”

“I get how you feel. I have three siblings,” she said. “We’re all so very different, and we fight like crazy at times, but I can’t do without them.”

Her face lit up as she spoke.

His curiosity about her rose. “You have brothers or sisters?”

“An elder brother and two sisters. I’m the youngest.”

“I’m the youngest too,” he said. Then he chuckled. “I suppose you already know that because you read all those magazines about me, just because you weren’t curious at all.”

She narrowed her eyes at him before returning to her book, as if done speaking to him. He wasn’t going to allow that.

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