Page 9 of Fixation

With those orders and a happy wave at Tyrion, she left the room. Vedant shifted, and suddenly, all the aches and pains in his body made themselves known. Fuck.

He needed to get better soon, which meant for the time being, he was stuck listening to his difficult doctor. The one important thing, he realised, was that during those minutes he’d spent arguing with her or getting mad at her, he’d forgotten his pain.

How very strange.

3

Reina entered the lounge of Vedant Oshnov’s palatial London mansion, her mood sour and foul. Su Min and Laila sat on a sofa, laughing, as they peered into a magazine, so engrossed that they barely even noticed her arrival. Stefan, she knew, was probably asleep. Stefan had the night shifts, looking after Vedant, so he slept during the days.

She went straight to the window, breathing in the cool air, allowing it to calm her mind. The view was spectacular. Surrounding the mansion from all sides was a huge meadow of oak trees. A road in between them cut through to the entrance of the castle. And in the distance was a lake, its colour so blue it hurt the eyes. She allowed the stunning beauty in front of her to soothe her.

After their first meeting, she’d expected Vedant to behave difficult. Looking at that incident, in retrospect, she’d concluded that she had been too worked up with his brother, Mihir, and thus, had behaved cold and curt with Vedant. She’d made up her mind to henceforth control her own response to him. She was a doctor, and she could deal with problematic patients in a professional manner.

After all, Vedant had gone through a lot. He’d definitely be in a lot of pain when he woke up, and it wasn’t his fault his brother was holding his medical team captive here. She’d decided to take a chance and be nice to him, but all that resolve had flown out of the window when he started behaving rudely with her. She was already irked about being forced into this situation here, and she hadn’t been able to stop herself from reacting angrily to him. She was human, after all, and there was a limit to her endurance and tolerance.

Besides, she was his doctor for God’s sake. The least he could do was be polite. Was that asking too much? His behaviour cemented her belief that some rich men were not necessarily good humans. And perhaps Vedant fit into that category.

His bodyguard, Tyrion, had been a silver lining in this whole ordeal. He was warm and kind to all of them and had ensured that they had everything they needed to be comfortable.

Reina tossed her glasses on the table in front of her and untied her hair from the tight bun she’d worn since her shift in Vedant’s room had started. She’d started wearing glasses the day after Dr. Williams had insisted on her sleeping with him. He wasn’t the first man to make a move on her. She’d been hit on enough in med school by classmates, seniors, and even professors who thought she was easy just because she looked good. As if that was the only thing worthwhile about her.

However, this issue with Dr. Williams had been the last straw. She’d taken to wearing this severe persona while at work just to stay under the damn radar of every hotshot, depraved man who thought it was cool to ask for sexual favours from her just because she was attractive. Bloody assholes, the lot of them. All these men were just the same—fucking untrustworthy.

Sighing, she dropped into the armchair beside Su Min and Laila.

Su Min lifted her head from the magazine. “How is he? Any change?”

“Yes, he’s conscious now and extremely coherent. And boy does he like to order around.”

Her friend leaned forward. “Is it?”

“He’s a general pain in the ass. Bloody rude, condescending, and ungrateful.” Reina pinched her forehead. “God, I don’t need this.”

Laila swiped a hand in the air. “We’ve all faced difficult patients. The difference is that we are getting paid heavily to look after and tolerate this one.”

“True,” Su Min concurred.

Her whole team had been increasingly excited about the money they were all earning, thanks to this one man. Apart from the money, Mihir had organised, of course via Tyrion, that clothes and toiletries be available for them all. Now, they each had a wardrobe filled with basic work clothes, some casual denims and tees, workout clothes, and shoes. Her colleagues had been even more thrilled after that, Laila especially. She behaved as if she was on a five-star vacation. Of the three in her team, Laila was the only one Reina didn’t quite like. Dark haired and grey-eyed, Laila thought no end of herself and behaved like an utter know-it-all and a diva.

Reina sighed. Her differences with Laila aside, there were other bigger problems she had—the biggest one being that she was lying to her family about her situation. And she hated it. Her family thought she was having a difficult set of days at work, and that’s why she was unable to receive their calls or reply to their texts. But if this continued for a month or more, then no excuse would prevent one of her siblings from flying to London to check on her. Fuck. If that happened… No, she wasn’t thinking of the war Rajiv would start if he learned that his baby sister was a captive of the Oshnovs. Hopefully, she could deter her siblingsfor some more time, and Vedant would be better soon before her siblings found out the truth.

She twirled a strand of her hair, watching Su Min and Laila focus on the magazine in their hand. They both looked relaxed and carefree. So easily they had slipped into the routine here. Reina had to admit that she definitely enjoyed the eight hours of continuous sleep she managed to get every single night for the past four nights. She sighed. If she didn’t have the sword of her family hanging on her head, maybe she could enjoy more of the freedom here. Like the rest of them, she too had started to appreciate the various in-house facilities that Mihir had allowed them to use, especially the pool and gym. Swimming and exercising had now become the highlights of her days. Oh, and also the long walks on the beautiful grounds around the house. She enjoyed her morning routine of?—

“—Reina, you’re not listening to us,” Su Min interrupted her thoughts.

“Sorry, what were you saying?”

The other two women once again giggled at something in the magazine.

Reina frowned. “Alright, what are you both reading?”

Su Min tossed the magazine on the table. It showed a picture of a gorgeous man wearing a charcoal suit and black-rimmed spectacles. The five o’clock shadow on his face highlighted the sharp angles of his cheeks. The more she stared at him, the more she realised how freaking beautiful he was. He was leaning on a black Ferrari against the backdrop of a city skyline. She jolted. That was Dubai’s skyline.

She looked at the girls. “Who is this hot hunk I’m looking at? And why have you both been giggling while ogling him?”

Su Min shared an amused glance with Laila before facing Reina. “That, my dear, is our patient, Vedant Oshnov. This iswhat I’ve been trying to tell you while you were lost in your head.”

Reina’s breath hitched. She looked at the magazine again and then at Su Min. “No fucking way.”

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