Page 29 of Fixation

“I have to go,” she told him. Yet, she continued to stare at him, unable to make herself move. God, what was wrong with her?

“Stefan will be here any minute,” she announced more to herself. “I’ll come check on you again in the middle of the day.”

She turned and walked out before the urge to stay with him remained. She rested her head against the shut door behind her, trying to control her erratic heartbeat. She was getting fixated with a patient, which went against all her rules. She was a doctor, and her job was to provide the best possible care for her patient and definitely not ogle the said patient, even if he was the most striking man she had ever come across. Yes, she ought to remember that always.

She quickly went to her room on the first floor of his massive house, locking it behind her. She hurried to the wardrobe and took out her phone that she had hidden in the pocket of one of her denims. Yesterday, Armaan had returned her phone to her right before he’d left, just as he had promised he would. She’d taken extra precautions to ensure no one knew she had it with her now, thus planning on keeping it hidden at all times.

She didn’t want any of the cleaning staff also finding out that she had her phone. Her team would have a severe problem with her if word ever came out that she was being singled out with this luxury. Checking it now, she saw several missed calls from her siblings.

She immediately called their siblings group. All three of them answered within seconds of each other.

“Hi, all you lovely people,” she greeted. All of them were in different locations. Ananya and Rajiv looked to be in their offices while Navya was at home.

“Where have you been?” Ananya asked. “Why have you taken so long to reply to my calls?”

“Give her a moment to breathe, will you, Ananya?” Navya cut in.

“Hi, my littlest one,” Rajiv said, leaning back in his chair. “How have you been? Is everything alright?”

Her heart warmed on hearing his voice. Her brother was her hero and role model. He’d taught her that hard work helped you achieve your dreams and that family always came first.

“I’m fine. Just been very busy.” Reina repositioned the phone so only her face was visible to them. She didn’t need the barrage of questions that would start if they realised she was in a location other than her home or hospital.

“How are Sheena and the kids?” she asked him.

A happy expression painted his face. “They’re returning from Mumbai tonight.”

Ever since Rajiv had met Sheena, he’d found a whole new purpose to his existence. And now, two kids later, he was happily domesticated. She was delighted to see him so content in life.

“How are you all?” she asked them.

“Oh, I am fine as usual,” Ananya took over. “These two, not so much. Now that we are all on the phone together, I have to tell you that they’re fighting terribly.”

Her eyes popped, and she focused on Rajiv and Navya, both of whom were glaring at each other through their phone screens.

“Guys, what’s going on, and why am I just hearing about it?” Reina queried.

Ananya pursed her lips. “If you actually found time from your busy schedule to talk to more than one of us for more than a minute, then you’d know already. This is the first time in so long that you’re video calling.”

“Sorry, you know how my work gets.” She hated lying to her family, and this one lie weighed heavily upon her. If they ever found out… No, that wasn’t happening. She didn’t want Rajiv to get into another conflict with the Oshnovs because of her, andshe was confident Armaan wouldn’t tell Navya where she was yet.

“Tell me why they’re fighting,” Reina deflected.

“It’s been a week now,” Ananya said. “Mihir wouldn’t let Navya meet Armaan when he woke up, and Rajiv sided with that fiend. Now Navya is mad and refusing to talk to Rajiv.”

“I did what I thought was right,” Rajiv justified himself.

“For whom? Me or you?” Navya shot back.

Rajiv swore. “I’m so tired of these Oshnov men. I already had one sister mooning over one of them, and now Navya is in love with the most notorious one and is blaming me for trying to keep her safe.”

“Hey, I am not mooning over Mihir,” Ananya retorted.

“Sure, and the sky is never blue,” Rajiv scowled. “You think I don’t see you wasting away? You’ve lost so much weight, you barely socialise, and you hardly sleep. These Oshnovs are nothing but a fucking pain in my life. Thank God, at least one of my sisters is far away from their shadow.”

Her heart twisted. If only Rajiv knew.

Ananya glared at Rajiv. “I’m not talking about this.”

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