The Rules: Book Five

Chapter 6

The caravan rolled down the freeway towards Malibu on a perfectly blue California day. Once they were steadily on their way, Quon piped up. "I have a question."

"I have a LOT Of questions." Pak shook his head as he checked the traffic on his phone.

"Lots of questions, huh?" Ami smirked. They watched Pak turn and look back at both girls. "Yes. But now isn't the time. Quon?"

"So, you rarely take your sunglasses off in front of others. It's sort of your mystique." He continued.

"Correct." Ami grinned.

"Are you taking them off in front of Gaga?" He glanced at her through the rearview mirror. "I mean, I know you're still Suki outside your group, but you rarely take those off in front of others. Just curious."

"I was planning on taking them off when we got inside. It would be rude, I think, to hang out at her house just us three and keep them on. I don't think this warrants that level of secrecy."

"Does that feel weird?" Pak asked simply.

"It feels more normal, but maybe a little weird. I can hide a little more behind them, I guess. I don't think I need to hide in her kitchen, though."

"I get that. You two need a little more 'normal' in your daily lives." Pak turned back in his seat and focused again on his traffic app.

"This isn't normal?" Jae giggled.

"No." They heard both Quon and Pak reply in unison, making the girls laugh. Pak turned around again and smiled, "It's your normal, though, and that's all that matters. Good question, Quon. I half wondered the same thing."  It took about an hour of driving before they were turning into a highly gated community.

"Damn," Jae murmured as they drove slowly through the upscale development. Before they pulled down a long private drive Pak turned around and handed a gift bag back to them.

"What is this?" Jae asked as they both looked inside the bag.

"Shmancy Italian olive oil. Su thought you might want to bring a gift to Gaga, so he had it picked up while we were in Italy."

"He did? I didn't know that." Ami smiled and looked at the bottle before returning it to the bag.

Pak shrugged, "Well, you were a little preoccupied in Italy. He didn't know if you would meet up or not. If not, he would give it to Jin."

"He was going to regift it?" Jae giggled.

"That was super nice of him. I need to thank him for this and about a million other things." She sighed. "So! Are you dropping us off and running away? Are you all six staying? Are you hiding in a bush outside? What's the plan?"

"I have dibs on the bush!" Quon called out as both the girls grinned.

"No. We'll drop you off, and then we'll be nearby. You can text whenever you are ready. Su vetted her place himself. You're good. How does that sound?" Pak looked between the two as they both nodded.

"That works for me."

"I'm so excited." Jae bounced in her seat a little as they turned into the gated drive lined with tall privacy bushes. In no time, they were pulling up and parking outside the huge home. Quon and Pak got out and opened the doors for the girls, who all but scrambled out of the car in excitement. It had been a long time since they had visited anyone's place for fun. They were ready for some normalcy, even if it was Gaga's level of normalcy.

As Ami came around the car to meet with Jae, they heard Gaga call out to them, "Well, look who finally decided to show up." They all looked up and saw her smiling while she came out to greet them. She was dressed comfortably in shorts and a t-shirt.