The Path To Perfection

Chapter 15: An Old Friend

"Look, Daddy, look!" The outcry of a little boy filled the area in a supermarket. A little boy ran around a section of the supermarket, pointing excitedly at the rows of video games, hopefully, his father would notice it.

Behind the five to six-year-old boy, Al'ravee walked while pushing a baby stroller forward. In the stroller was a pretty baby girl who had a pacifier in her mouth.

Next to him was a middle-aged black-haired woman holding a shopping basket, the basket was already filled halfway.

A ten-year-old girl who seemed to be tall for her age held onto the middle-aged woman's free hand. The way she kept to herself would easily give someone the impression that she was an introvert.

The middle-aged woman was Al'ravee's wife, the boy shouting for the video games, the tall ten-year-old girl, and the baby in the stroller were all his children.

After eleven years of marriage, Al'ravee and Eva now had Three children, two girls, and a boy. After getting married to Eva, it dawned on Al'ravee that life, where you belonged to a family was completely different from a life where you had your family. A lot of new concept in his everyday life was introduced to him and he had to adapt as soon as possible. He had to deal with parenting and extra living expenses.

He worked his way into becoming a department supervisor in his company so providing for the needs of his children wasn't too much of a hassle. He tried to be a good father but there wasn't really any test that he could write to prove that so Al'ravee didn't know how well he was doing. To others, Al'ravee could be considered a very softhearted father. He would have spoilt the children rotten if not for his wife Eva.

Eva, who simply worked as one of the Temples admins spent more of her time with the children. Over the years, she grew to be a hard-handed mother and a thorough disciplinarian.

Currently, Al'ravee was taking a vacation away from work and he decided to visit his hometown. The supermarket they were in now belonged to Selou and Lian.

Seeing his son pointing at those video games, Al'ravee smiled. Apart from reading e-novels, he and his son shared certain hobbies, one of them being their love for electronic games. Normally, work wouldn't give him much time for it but now that he was on vacation, he had enough time to complete as many story-mode games as he likes. He still had his game set in krene and Jurdelious place so he didn't hesitate to buy a few interesting ones.

While Eva and their first daughter focused more on things that they needed, Al'ravee and the little boy just seemed to be goofing around.

The shopping basket was soon filled up. Selou wasn't around but she had instructed her workers to give them a cost-to-cost price.

Just when they were living in the supermarket, in the parking lot, a man in a black and white office suit walked towards them. He walked towards Al'ravee in particular.

"Mr. Ravee!" The man called out in a hurry before they could drive off in their car. Al'ravee was a bit surprised, he had only been in town, a really large town at that, for a few days so how was it possible that somebody knew his name? It's been very long after all.

"Yes that's me, what do you want.." It was hard to tell what Al'ravee was thinking from his expression but within him, he was already on guard.

The man composed himself better after confirming that he was talking to the right person. " Well good day sir, I have been sent to fetch you and will need you to come with me, sir. I was sent to..."

Al'ravee didn't let him finish, he had watched a lot of movies to know how this scene would end. ," Hold on now, I'll get back to you. Let me just park the car okay." He stylishly entered the car and got it started. By this time, Eva and the kids were already inside the car too.

The man seeing Al'ravee's action didn't react the way Al'ravee thought he would, instead he calmly spoke out. "Sir, I'm here on behalf of Murry."

Al'ravee immediately stopped in motion when he heard that name.

Murry, It's been years since he had any form of communication with his childhood friend

The chance to finally meet an old friend again.

"Come again...Who did you say sent you?" Al'ravee asked with uncertainty.

"I was sent by Mr. Murry sir." The man said sincerely.

Al'ravee paused for a moment in thought. He was a bit skeptical but also eager to see him. This could be a kidnapper who had information about him. But then again the chances of that happening was low because they could have used force from the beginning.

A kidnapper who went through the trouble of gathering info on him would have better means than this.

"Ravee, what's wrong.." Eva couldn't help but get curious when she saw how Al'ravee reacted to that name.

"Eva, you and the children can head home, I'll meet you there. No need to worry." Al'ravee said while smiling and giving Eva a meaningful gaze.

Eva understood what her husband meant. There was no need to worry about his safety. Over the years, they had obviously developed ways to communicate with just eye contact. She nodded her head slowly.

Al'ravee got out of the car "Let's go". The man in the suit calmly lead him to a black small car parked in the corner of the parking lot. Eva watched from the side mirror of the car as they drove off. " Lord Ozia, please watch over him."

.....

*Murry's Former Residence*

A black small car drove down the street and stopped in front of an old house. Across the street was a row of high-rise cars parked randomly. Al'ravee noticed that all the cars were of the same model.

" This way sir." The black-suited man came out from the car and gestured towards the old house. Al'ravee got out too and started walking towards the familiar house with mixed feelings.

The last time he was here, it was to pay Murry the last visit as one of his closest friends. Since then the last time he spoke with Murry was when he was still in university. In short, it's been twenty-four years since he last saw Murry. ' Murry should be forty-one years old now, I wonder what he looks like.'

As Al'ravee walked towards the house, the doors of the house swung open and a man walked out and stepped down from the wooden base unto the dirt ground. The driver immediately left after seeing the man not bothering to wait to see what would happen.

Evening time approached stealthily, and the sun quietly began to set casting an orange hue on the scene. Two men, one walking forward, the other standing in place awaiting the arrival of an old friend.

As Al'ravee got closer, he was able to see the man clearly. He had smooth brown skin that showed that he was being taken care of properly, and his bald head reflected the orange light of the setting sun. His belly was slightly bloated due to alcohol. Despite the black beard that covered his face, Al'ravee was still able to recognize him.

Coming to stand in front of him, both Al'ravee and Murry stared at each other in surprise and bewilderment. Finally, Murry broke the awkward silence. "I always figured that you'd be taller than me, hehe... I was right I guess." He said with a cheeky smile.

Al'ravee chuckled. " And what happened to your dreadlocks, I thought by now you'd still have them. I guess I was wrong."

"..."

"..."

They both looked at each other under the darkening sky before Al'ravee couldn't hold it anymore. "Pfft, haha, hahaha..."

"Haha, hahaha hehe..." Murry followed suit. Indeed, laughter was contagious.

....

*Inside the old house*

After a moment of jesting, Al'ravee and Murry walked into the house. Al'ravee didn't see any of Murry's relatives but wasn't too surprised. He didn't expect anyone to still be living in this house. After all, over the year, the structure of houses have improved. This old house could be considered....old school.

" So... It's been long, how have you been all this while?" Murry laughed as he said.

Al'ravee smiled happily and replied to Murry. "It's been long indeed. A lot has happened since I last saw you and I've got a lot of things to tell you. As you may already know, I'm married with three children now."

Murry didn't bother to hide it. " Yeah, I already knew about that. I have my sources now. " he couldn't help but boast a bit.

Although Al'ravee expected that reply, he was still a bit surprised. But if he thought about it carefully, if Murry still had kept to his thinking pattern back then, then it won't be surprising for him to do some serious background checks on the people he was going to interact with. Murry only asked out of formality.

Al'ravee wasn't too bothered though. Today with the advancement of computer technology, a lot of personal data keeps getting loaded into the mainnet daily. Naturally, Al'ravee chose what he could let people find out and what would stay secret no matter what. "Well, since you already know about me, why don't you get me up to speed on your side? What brings you back to town?"

Murry rested his back on the wooden chair to relax. "It wasn't all easy after I was admitted into university but life has been good to me recently. A little drama here and there but it's not much of a problem... As for why I'm back in town..." When Murry reached the last part, his expression suddenly dampened as the fulfilled smile on his face disappeared.

Al'ravee looked at him in curiosity. "I'm here because of Ivan. " Murry said.

Hearing another old name, Al'ravee was immediately excited. "You have news about Ivan" The thought of all four of them hanging out again was thrilling to him. For a moment, Al'ravee completely forgot that Ivan ran away and betrayed Selou.

Murry didn't let him get too excited though cause his next words stunned him to the core.

"Ivan... has been sentenced to death."