Page 8 of Fixation

“Boss!” Tyrion greeted him with a warm smile.

“Hello, Tyrion, how are you?” Vedant asked in Russian, genuinely concerned about him.

Tyrion’s eyes widened. “I should be asking you that, Sir. How are you?”

“I’m not too good!” Vedant sighed. He switched to English. “My verycapabledoctor tells me that I will take time to recover and that too if I follow her instructions.”

He saw her hand pause on the clipboard before her lips pursed, and she continued scribbling.

“Yeah, Dr. Singh is very capable,” Tyrion replied in English. He bestowed a huge smile on the doctor.

To Vedant’s utter surprise, she looked at Tyrion and returned his smile. Her face softened and she no longer looked like a strict schoolmarm. She looked young and innocent.

Shaking that thought away, Vedant switched to Russian again. “Tell me about you, Tyrion? Are you injured?”

The night he’d been attacked, he hadn’t taken Tyrion because Tyrion had been unwell. Yet, his bodyguard had followed him out of a sense of duty and concern and reached him on time. Thanks to him, Vedant had been able to quickly fend off his quartet of attackers. That night, Tyrion had been injured too.

“I’m fine, Sir,” Tyrion replied, sticking to English as if he didn’t want the doctor to feel left out. “We all have been veryworried about you. It’s good to see you awake after so many days. Do you need anything? Water?”

At his nod, Tyrion poured water from a jug and handed it to him.

“Slow sips, please,” Dr. Singh ordered. “And just a little bit for now.”

His first instinct was to disobey her haughty command and gulp down the whole glass of water. But he curbed that impulse and did as told.

He held the glass in his hand while the doctor approached.

“Do you remember what happened to you?” she asked.

“Yes, in vivid detail.”

She ticked something on her chart.

He faced his bodyguard, switching to Russian again. “I never thanked you, Tyrion. You were unwell, and yet you came, right on time. You saved my life that night.”

“Sir, I was following orders from Mr. Mihir to never let you go anywhere alone,” Tyrion continued to speak in English. “That’s all. It was my job to be by your side. And to be honest, I only took you to the hospital.” He looked at Vedant’s doctor. “She saved you.”

Dr. Singh raised her head and smiled at Tyrion again. Tyrion was looking at her in awe, like she was some miracle worker. She dipped her head at him before focusing back on her clipboard.

What was going on here? Were these two friends now? And how did it matter even if they were? It wasn’t his concern at all.

Ignoring that, Vedant asked, “Do we have an update on that fourth man who got away? I’m sure my brothers must have instructed you to look for him.”

Tyrion exchanged a glance with the doctor again before looking at him. He spoke in English, “The thing is, Sir, I am not supposed to discuss work with you, especially anythingconcerning that night.” He smiled obediently at Dr. Singh. “Doctor’s orders, you see.”

Vedant couldn’t believe her nerve. She was ordering his team now? How dare she? Before he could open his mouth and say something scathing, she said, “Your brother agreed when I said that it’s better for you not to stress or get anxious about anything so soon in your recovery. So, if you have a problem with this, then best take it up with him.”

She put the clipboard back on the trolley next to his bed before she got to work, disconnecting the IV bag from the cannula at his wrist and administering two injections in it. Once done, she connected the IV tube back to his wrist.

“Tyrion, I’ll get going,” she said. “Will you stay with Mr. Oshnov?—”

“—Vedant,” Vedant interrupted. “Call me Vedant.”

She didn’t even look at him as she continued. “Will you stay withMr. Oshnovuntil Dr. Jones arrives. My shift is over,thankfully.”

She mumbled the last words, but he heard her anyway, and it annoyed him anyway.

She faced him. “Mr. Oshnov, please rest as much as you can. I have to change your dressings in a day or two, but until then, don’t exert yourself and keep your left shoulder and right leg as stationary as possible. It will help them heal better.”

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