Is forever for R.E.A.L?

Chapter 24: The reunion

“Rahul. Tell me.” Larry said when I didn’t answer him. I was thinking of a valid excuse.
“Nothing.”
“Tell me. And where were you?” he asked.
“I was just roaming about.” I said hoping that Larry would get off this topic.
“With Ashish?” he asked.
“No.. What? What do you mean?” I stuttered.
“Weren’t you with Ashish all this time?” he asked.
“I don’t even know him except from your  narration.” I lied but knew that this wouldn’t work.
“I saw you met Ashish. Do you care to tell me why you met him?” Larry asked with a tone of anger. I wished it was pretentious.
“Nothing.” I said.
“Say it.” He urged.
“I wanted to bring all of you back.” I confessed.
“Esha would never agree to it. And I respect her wishes.” He said.
“She won’t until there’s a purpose.”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I feel it wasn’t a normal death.” I said.
“What?” He asked confused for a while.
“I feel it was a murder.” I said and he stared at me, with eyes that silently screamed ‘I don’t believe you’.
“You too?”
“What do you mean?” I asked in astonishment. Larry thinking the same could help me prove it more.
“I felt this was planned but it would sound unbelievable also it would feel that I was defending my mistake.” He said with a sense of sadness. All his anger over me meeting Ashish had dissolved.
“I felt the same. Also I still don’t feel it’s your fault.” I said.
“You don’t. Rehan does.” He said and this made me speechless.
“If Esha agrees, would you come?” I asked.
“Let’s see.”
We decided that Ashish will bring Esha and I will be accompanied by Larry but he wouldn’t appear in front of Esha until we told Esha about our suspicion that Rehan’s death was a murder.
“What if she gets angry?” Larry asked as we were going to the same place I met Ashish.
“See it won’t make a difference. She is already not talking to you.” I said.
“But what if she hates me now?” he asked.
“She won't. She loves you too much for that.” I said.
“I don’t know if she still does.” He said.
As I was going to reply, the rickshaw stopped at the same place it did the previous day and Larry sat down, far away from me. I would flash a thumbs up towards him when he would have to come.
“Rahul?” I heard a voice from behind me. I turned to see a girl at the age of 17 looking at me. Though she was beautiful, she didn’t seem as cheerful as Larry had described.
“Yes. You must be Esha.”
“Yeah.”
“Where is Ashish?”
“He is coming around. Don’t worry.”
“Okay.”
I talked to her for a while and stole a few glances at Larry who was tapping his feet impatiently.
“Hey sorry I had a call.” Ashish came and I felt relieved.
“You said you wanted to talk about something important right?” Esha asked Ashish.
“Yes. And we want you to meet someone else too.”
I signalled Larry and he started to walk up towards where we sat.
“Larry.” I said and I could sense longing to meet Larry in her eyes. Though she made them disappear quickly and stood up to walk away.
“You should know it’s important or I would never disrespect your wish of not wanting to meet me again.” Larry said and Esha stopped in her tracks though she didn’t say anything.
“Rehan was murdered.” He said and Esha turned back to look at him. This was no less than a dramatic scene but with real murders involved, it didn’t seem funny to me.
“Really?” Esha  asked.
“Why would I ever lie to you?” Larry asked a rhetorical question.
“I am ready to be friends with you. But I can’t promise anything more. It’s not that I don’t love you, it’s just that I am not ready for a relationship. And I am the reason he died.” She said in a low tone.
“Esha, it was not you. It was by me that he died.”
“No. I  cheated on him.” She said.
“So did I.” Larry said.
“It’s not your fault!” Esha exclaimed.
“It is. Rehan said it too.”
“Maybe it was directed to someone else.”
“He pointed it at my direction.” Larry said.
“What if someone was behind you? Someone whom Rehan was blaming.” I asked.