Page 31 of Fixation

Originally from South Korea, Su Min had come to study in the UK, and she’d chosen to remain there post her education. But her parents still lived in Seoul. With her tip tilted eyes and clear as glass skin, her friend was petite and very pretty.

“You know he’s the head of their security.” Su Min shifted her bangs away from her forehead, “He goes wherever they go.”

Reina squeezed her shoulder. “Did you get some alone time with him?”

Su Min grinned. “He managed to sneak into my room every night this past week while he was here. It was… it was mind-blowing.”

“Really? How scandalous of you both!” Reina smiled. “Are you still keeping your affair a secret from his bosses?”

“Yes. Considering how the Oshnovs are so paranoid about safety and security protocols, they could decide to let go of me because I’m Vasily’s girlfriend. I simply don’t want to lose the money they’re offering. They might even think he’s sharing information with me, which he never does, you know.”

“I get it.”

Having been an honest person all her life, she too was being forced to deceive her family because of her situation here, and hence, she didn’t begrudge her friend doing the same.

“I think he’s the one, Reina,” Su Min said dreamily. “I think I’m in love with him.”

“That’s amazing. Have you told him that then?”

Su Min made a face. “I will, the next time he comes to London. Long distance relationships are too damn hard.”

“I’m sure.”

Su Min shifted on her forearms and stared at Reina. “How are things with you and our hot patient?”

“Fine. He is behaving less of a grouch. Which is good.”

Her friend shook her head. “Laila is crushing on him big time, while you are so unaffected by him. Thankfully, I’m taken so I don’t care much.”

Reina’s eyes widened. “Wait. Laila is crushing on him?!”

“There you go again,” Su Min threw her a glower, “How many times do I have to tell you to pay attention to the world around you? Laila talks about him all the time. It’s obvious. And all that extra time she’s taking from our shifts, even when the other brothers were here, is not out of the goodness of her heart. How can you be so damn oblivious?”

A rush of annoyance took over her. Bloody hell. She thought through all her interactions with Laila. Fuck, she was such an idiot. Laila had been constantly talking about Vedant. Su Min was right. Laila was spending the maximum time with him. Reina ought not to be concerned with what Laila did and thought. Then, why was she suddenly seething with resentment? Why had all her muscles tensed up?

Forbidden, he was forbidden, she reminded herself. Her family did not need any further complications with the Oshnovs. Rajiv would blow a fuse if he learned that she was getting fixatedon Vedant Oshnov, and Ananya would be ready to murder him. That is what she ought to be thinking of. She should not care whether Laila was having a crush on Vedant or not.

It wasn’t important. He wasn’t important.

11

Restlessness buzzed inside Vedant. Even now, thinking of the events of last night and this morning made his chest constrict. Something new was unfurling within him, and he wanted to understand what it was. Unfortunately, the one person in whose presence he could decipher what this meant was deliberately absent. He kept looking at the wall clock, wondering what time she’d be coming to check on him. It was late afternoon now, and she had yet to make an appearance. He raked a hand through his hair. When was she going to come? Hadn’t she told him that she’d be taking off his cast today? Where was she then?

Seated in front of him, Dr. Laila Jones had tried her damn best to converse with him, but he hadn’t obliged. He never obliged her. She was too talkative and loud, while he preferred calm and quiet. Each time she was with him, he tried to sleep or read the paper, anything to avoid talking to her. If he were being honest, he didn’t quite like the way she studied him, like she was completely taken in by him. Her long stares, throaty laughs, and constant chatter grated on his nerves.

And today, of all days, his patience was at an all-time low. She wasn’t the one whose voice he wanted to hear. She wasn’t the one whose eyes he wanted to gaze into. She wasn’t the one whose defiant jaw and changing expressions he wanted to study. She wasn’t the one he was curious about.

Laila asked him another question, to which he once again replied in a monosyllable and focused on his newspaper instead. He preferred Stefan or Su Min over her. But most of all, he wanted Reina to return so he could affirm whether all that he had felt and experienced last night with her was real and not a figment of his overactive imagination.

The truth was that he hadn’t stopped thinking about her. Now he knew what she looked like minus her disguise. Now he knew that her hair was like the finest spun silk. So soft. So lush. It still amazed him that he had spent the whole night with his hand entangled in her hair. He had so many questions about Reina, the answers to which he could only get if she spent some time with him.

“Can I get you something?” Laila asked.

He lowered his newspaper, thinking.

“I believe you were on the team that operated on me,da?”

Her eyes sparkled at his attempt to converse with her. She pulled her chair closer to him.

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