The car that pulled up to pick up the three teens, a black Nissan Altima, was a little cramped in the back seat with all three of them. Ava was between Soo-jin and Sam, leaning into the latter; she looked over at him and noticed that he was ghostly pale.

“What’s up with you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” he asked in return, playing dumb.

“Dude, you look like you just saw a goddamn ghost, what’s the deal?” Ava asked again. Sam sighed and looked over at the Uber driver, a quiet, dark-skinned man named Okechukwu who had come with a perfect 5.00 rating on the app, and then looked back at Ava.

“I’ll tell you when we get there,” he said. He leaned in a little closer and lowered his voice to a whisper. “We’re being followed, and I don’t think our driver’s clued in on anything.”

“Fuck,” Ava said out loud. “Motherfuckers couldn’t give us one day of peace!?”

“We’ll deal with it when we’re at the Galleria,” Sam said. “If he’s still following us, that is.”

“And what if he’s not?” Ava asked.

“Then just keep an eye on your six,” Sam said. “I couldn’t detect him, but I saw him up on the roof at the apartments.”

“You recognize him at all?” she asked.

“It was that goon from the limo. The black guy Mr. Johnson had with him,” Sam said.

The puzzle pieces started to fit together in Ava’s mind, and she leaned into Sam’s ear.

“You think he knows I ganked Mr. Johnson?” she asked, whispering.

“Yeah, probably,” Sam said, and sighed. “At least hopefully, when he’s gone, we’ll get to actually fucking relax.”

“Or, they’ll just send more goons,” Ava said, annoyed, as the driver pulled into the parking lot, past the Cheesecake Factory, and stopped.

“Have a good rest of your day,” the driver said to them with a slight accent as Sam opened his door and practically jumped out of the car, with the other two following. He did a quick scan of the environment; no sign of their pursuer. He wasn’t sure if Mr. Johnson’s former bodyguard had dropped the pursuit somewhere along the freeways, or if he had just stayed behind at the apartment complex, waiting and planning an ambush.

He opted not to think about it. After the weekend they’d had, they deserved to relax a bit.

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The Galleria, as usual around late afternoon, was packed with people milling about. Sam and Ava were used to it, and weaved through the crowd with no issues; Soo-jin, however, was terrified, and latched onto Ava’s hand to keep from getting left behind.

Jesus, I thought back home was busy, Soo-jin thought in Ava’s mind. This is horrible!

Wait until you see some of the stores they have here, Ava thought, and then pointed out the Michael Kors store across the walkway. See?

Soo-jin beamed with happiness as she realized why there were so many people packing the place.

“Y’all wanna eat before we go on a wild shopping run? I could fuck up some Nobu right now,” Ava said.

“That… actually sounds amazing,” Sam concurred.

You hungry? Sam thought to Soo-jin, and she nodded and followed them along to the Japanese restaurant that jutted out the side of the Galleria near where they entered.

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It didn’t take them long to be seated at a table for three, surprisingly, and the three unanimously agreed on the omakase. By the time the twelve-course, family-style meal was finished, all were so stuffed that they could barely walk; the bill worked out to around five hundred and seventy dollars, with tax, and Ava left a tip of another hundred and fifty as they staggered out.

“God damn, I never knew I could get that full off raw fish,” Ava groaned.

“Hey, it wasn’t just raw fish,” Sam said, sitting down on a bench to let himself rest for a second and digest the enormous amount of food he’d put down. “There was also the grilled eel over rice, and the hot stone A5 Wagyu, and the seared tuna…”

“That seared tuna was pretty much still raw fish,” Ava argued. “Kicked ass, though.”

“That, it did,” Sam said. “Christ, I wish I could fit more in. So, uh… what now?”

“Well, now we go on a wild shopping spree,” Ava said. “I kinda wanna hit Spencer’s and Hot Topic for some new shirts, maybe get a couple pairs of jeans while I’m out there. Soo-jin told me she wants to hit the Sephora, and I don’t know, I might try some makeup out and see how it works for me.”

Sam imagined Ava with professional makeup on, and blushed.

“Definitely gonna try that out,” she corrected, smirking. “What are you gonna do?”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Right now, I need to sit down for a bit so I don’t puke everywhere, so I’m gonna keep doing that,” Sam said. “I just wanna get some nice jeans and a couple polos or something.” And that LEGO Millennium Falcon if they still have it at the LEGO store, he added in his mind, making Soo-jin crack up and causing him to go red with embarrassment. Shit, didn’t mean for you to hear that.

It’s okay, I’m not telling Ava, Soo-jin thought in his mind. I’ll cover for you if you need it. The redness faded from Sam’s face and he smiled at her, nodding subtly. Soo-jin grabbed Ava’s forearm and started to pull her away, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Sam took a deep breath and let out an earth-shaking belch he’d been holding in, about a foot away from a small child’s face, who recoiled in shock and nearly knocked her mother over.

“God, I needed that,” he muttered to himself, as he got up and took off at a brisk pace towards Nordstrom.

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When the three reconvened about two hours later, Sam was only carrying a few bags; one from Nordstrom, one from Zara, and one from the LEGO Store. Ava and Soo-jin, meanwhile, were weighed down with about six each, from all manner of stores; Ava had seemingly changed her clothes entirely over the course of the afternoon, and was now wearing a shirt with one of the Angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion on it, with a pair of slim-fit Levi’s jeans that stuck to her legs and showed off the muscular definition in her thighs and calves, and a pair of desert tartan Converse Chuck Taylors on her feet. Both her and Soo-jin also had diamond-studded gold Cuban-link chains around their necks, Ava’s bearing a ten-karat gold Our Lady of Guadalupe pendant with more diamonds studded around the image.

Noticeably to Sam, she was also wearing makeup. Very, very well-done makeup. He had thought she was cute before, but it turned out that with a little help, she went from “cute” to “absolutely drop-dead gorgeous,” and the sight quite literally staggered him, making him nearly fall over. Soo-jin, for her part, also looked very nice; the makeup job that had been done on her made her look closer to her actual age, and put to rest any worries that Sam had about Ava wandering around with what appeared to be a Korean child.

“Jesus, that bad, huh?” Ava asked, frowning.

“Bad? What?” Sam sputtered. “You look fucking incredible.”

Ava blushed.

“Wait, really? You think so? I feel like I pretty much look the same, but with a bunch of pancake goo on my face,” Ava said.

“I… yes, you look amazing, Ava,” he said. “Like, you’re definitely cute without it, but you’re like next-level cute with it.” Her blush intensified.

“I, uh, thanks,” Ava said, awkwardly. “I… good thing I bought all that stuff, then, I might have to do this more often. What’d you get?”

“Oh, just some polos and jeans from Nordstrom, a few button-ups from Zara,” he said. “And, uh, a seven hundred dollar LEGO set,” he added, sheepishly, making Ava bust out laughing and making him turn even redder with embarrassment than before.

“Dude, that’s fucking awesome,” she said, nudging him on the shoulder. “We should build that together. Like, I’m legit curious, what the hell is a LEGO set that expensive even like?”

“Well, big,” Sam said. “Like, really goddamn big. It’s the only thing in that bag,” he added, gesturing to the fairly large and heavy LEGO Store bag.

“So, guess it’s time for us to head back home, then? I can’t really think of anything else I needed, unless you can,” Ava asked, looking at Sam.

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Sam concurred. “Want me to call the Uber again?”

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The Uber ride that took the three teens back home, all their bags in tow, was uneventful and quiet; Ava leaned her head on Sam’s shoulder, and Soo-jin tapped around on her phone, messaging assorted people she knew on LINE to let them know where she was.

Eventually, they arrived back at the apartment complex where Ava and Sam lived, and where Soo-jin would be staying with the former until her flight back to Seoul at the end of the week, and the three got out of the car, fishing all of their assorted purchases out. Ava gave Sam a quick kiss.

“That was nice,” she said. “See you at school tomorrow?”

“See you at school tomorrow,” Sam said, beaming as Ava and Soo-jin walked to the apartment where the former lived.

Lydia was nowhere to be seen out front; Ava assumed this meant she was asleep, and unlocked the door with her keys. When she opened the door, the first thing she noticed was that the lights were on, and Lydia was standing in the middle of the living room, wide awake; the second thing she noticed was the bodyguard from Mr. Johnson’s limo, standing directly behind her and holding a blade that jutted from his elbow to her throat.

Ava clenched her fist.

“Drop my goddamn mom,” she said, firmly.

“No,” the man said. “I know you’re the one who murdered my charge.”

“So? Why the fuck do you care? Get another job, find some other rich guy,” Ava said, annoyed. “Jesus, you could’ve given me one day.”

“You do not understand,” the man said. “That man, Mr. Johnson, saved my life. I failed to save his. I am obligated to, at least, avenge him.” Ava smirked.

“I can respect that,” she said. “But drop my mother. She’s not involved in this. I’m the one who killed your boss, not her.”

“I really did miss a whole fucking lot while you were gone, didn’t I, mija?” Lydia asked her daughter, stunned.

“Mom, it’s cool, he was a rich fuck who ordered the deaths of two of my buddies and tried to get me killed,” Ava said. Lydia sighed.

“Do the cops know about it?” she asked. “Are you gonna have to spend some of that ten mil on a lawyer?”

“Christ, I hope not,” Ava said. “I don’t think so, we were on a private island. I think this guy and Sam are the only people who know I did it.”

“That is correct,” the man said. “The rest of the organization has assumed this was… a private matter, and has opted not to notify authorities. My presence here is personal, not professional.”

“You’re doing a whole lot of talking, and not a whole lot of putting my goddamn mom down,” Ava said, gritting her teeth. “Your fight is with me, not her.”

“My quarrel is with you, and all who have assisted you up to this point,” the man said.

Soo-jin stood behind Ava, staring intently at the man.

You’re not gonna be able to talk your way out of this, Soo-jin thought in Ava’s mind. He’s planning to kill her, and then attack you. You need to strike first.

How? He’ll just slash her throat if I dodge around, Ava thought.

If you don’t, she’s dead anyways. If you go for it, she has a chance, Soo-jin thought through her.

Ava gritted her teeth, crouched down, and dashed, kicking her feet off the carpet into a quick run to the man’s side. He looked over, caught by surprise, as Ava threw a quick punch- strong, but not strong enough to make her Code kick in- and knocked him off balance.

Lydia, for her part, ran directly out the front door, screaming her head off, as Ava stood her ground.

“You’re dealing with me first,” Ava said. “If you kill me, you can do whatever you want, but you’re not killing my mom, and you’re sure as fuck not killing my boyfriend.”

The two took fighting poses, and the man threw a punch, a blade emerging from the back of his hand as it flew. Ava just barely dodged it, the blade slicing her cheek with a small splash of blood, and threw her own punch along his arm, going for a cross counter.