Outside the Gallagher house, by the roadside.
Mandy, Debbie, Carl, and Lip holding Liam were waiting together.
"Will Mickey really come?" Seeing no movement on either side of the road, Lip asked uneasily.
Mandy nodded with certainty. "He definitely will."
After waiting for about two more minutes, two car headlights appeared in the distance on the left.
Before long, Mickey slammed on the brakes, stopping in front of Mandy and the others. He glanced at them and didn't speak.
"Get in," Mandy said, nimbly pulling open the car door.
As soon as Mandy and the others squeezed into the car, Mickey took a fierce drag on his cigarette and headed straight for Comrade Kash's house.
In the car, Lip dialed Ian's phone again. The result was the same: the phone was turned off.
Mickey drove aggressively. It only took about eight minutes for the group to rush to the door of Kash's house.
Bang bang bang~~~
Lip was anxious and didn't care about anything else. Even though it was late at night, he still knocked heavily on the door.
Although Kash hadn't returned, Linda, who actually hadn't cared for a long time, had already fallen asleep. She was forcibly woken up. After recovering for two seconds and waking up, she subconsciously thought a criminal might have come, so she nimbly took out the pistol from the bedside table drawer. She skillfully checked the magazine, confirmed it was full, clicked off the safety, ready to fire at any time, got out of bed, and walked toward the front door.
Lip was still banging on the door.
Linda's expression was solemn. She walked lightly to the door and quietly looked out through the peephole.
With this look, seeing Lip and these brats, Linda instantly breathed a sigh of relief. Then, feeling very speechless, she reached out to open the door while cursing grumpily, "Stop fxxking knocking! Knock your mother!"
Hearing this, Lip was stunned, only then stopping the knocking.
"Do you know what time it is?" Linda retorted as soon as she opened the door.
"Sorry, we didn't want to disturb you so late, but it's really urgent," Lip saw the pistol in Linda's right hand at a glance. He instantly became nervous, paused for a moment, then said politely, "Is Kash home?"
"Not here. What do you want with him?" Linda couldn't be bothered to haggle with brats, her tone softening a bit.
Lip knew clearly that Linda had long known about Kash and Ian, so he said directly, "Ian is missing, and a lot of his stuff is gone too. I suspect he might have run away from home, so I wanted to ask Kash."
Hearing this, Linda immediately understood what Lip was saying. She raised her eyebrows sharply, wanting to check if Kash's things were still there.
"You guys wait here!" Having a plan, Linda decisively dropped this sentence, closed the door, and walked quickly back to the bedroom to check.
It didn't take long.
The result was out.
Many of Kash's things were gone too.
Facing this fact, even though she really didn't care about Kash anymore, at this moment, regarding the fact that Kash actually eloped with Ian, Linda still almost exploded with anger, furiously hating it enough to grind her teeth!!!
"Fxxk!!!!"
"Kash, you coward..."
"..."
Truly too angry, Linda cursed viciously for a while.
After a long time.
Only then did Linda calm down a little bit. She found pen and paper, wrote down Kash's phone number, returned to the front door, opened it, and said to Lip with a calm expression, "Kash's things are gone too. This is his phone number."
Handing the paper over, bam, Linda slammed the door shut heavily.
At this point.
Suspicion basically turned into reality. Holding the paper with Kash's phone number, Lip stood stunned, his scalp tingling.
Mickey, standing at the very back, waited for two seconds and got impatient. "Lip, what the fxxk are you dazing for? Call!"
Yes, Mickey, smoking cigarette after cigarette, was actually very anxious. Just because of his pride, he couldn't say much.
Lip snapped back to reality, silently took out his phone, and called Kash.
As expected, Kash's phone was also turned off.
"Also turned off..." Lip didn't call again and said this sentence.
Hearing this, Mickey took a fierce drag on his cigarette and didn't say anything.
At this time, Carl, whose IQ was truly limited and hadn't fully figured out what exactly happened, asked with a puzzled tone, "Lip, why come here to find Ian? Ian left with that Kash?"
Carl wasn't smart; Lip knew this very well. "Yeah, should be like that."
"But why would Ian leave with Kash? That's very weird," Carl still didn't understand.
Debbie was smarter than Carl and had roughly figured out the truth. She widened her eyes in surprise and asked Lip, "Lip, is Ian gay? Is Kash Ian's boyfriend?"
Things having come to this, there was really no need to hide it anymore. Lip nodded.
Although Carl wasn't smart enough, he could still understand this conversation. He was instantly shocked and exclaimed, "Holy shit! Ian is gay?"
At this moment, Carl was strictly a professional onlooker.
Seeing Carl's expression, Lip smiled bitterly, having no energy to explain more for the time being. "Let's go back first."
After running around in the middle of the night.
Lip and the others returned to the Gallagher house. Mickey didn't come in; he drove home silently.
---
The Gallagher House.
"Lip, what exactly is going on with being gay?" Carl was really very curious and asked.
Lip smoked fiercely, thinking about whether to tell Fiona about this matter, really having no energy to explain gay issues to Carl. "Carl, I'll explain to you tomorrow."
After speaking, Lip exhaled a long plume of smoke.
The fact was, since Ian had already left and things were set in stone, Lip was no longer too worried about Ian.
In Lip's view, Ian being with that perverted middle-aged man Kash, wherever they went, probably wouldn't have a very good life, but there shouldn't be any danger to his life.
When life became unsustainable, Lip believed Ian would come back.
Therefore, as of this moment, what Lip worried about more was this family.
Before tonight, his thought was that he and Ian would shoulder this family, Carl would contribute more money... In this way, even without Fiona, there shouldn't be any major problems for the next year.
But now, Ian selfishly left like this... The task of taking care of this family fell on him alone, and he still had to study hard for college, strive for his own future...
The more Lip thought, the more his headache grew. Finally, gritting his teeth, he took out his phone and called Fiona.
The call connected.
Lip took a drag of his cigarette, his tone heavy, speaking with a hint of guilt. "Fiona, something happened at home."
Fiona, who was working at the bar, felt her heart tighten hearing this. She immediately thought of Frank and said nervously and somewhat sadly, "Frank died?"
Lip truly didn't care if Frank died or not. "No, Ian ran away from home. Left today. Don't know exactly when, don't know where he went either."
The words entered her ears.
Fiona, who never expected such a thing would happen, was dumbfounded on the spot, unable to speak: "?????"
Lip understood and waited quietly.
After several seconds, Fiona barely managed to find her voice again. "What exactly happened? Tell me in detail!"
Lip obediently did so, recounting the story.
After listening.
Fiona felt it was incredible and wanted to laugh.
Fxxking Ian!
Actually such a stupid love-brain.
Actually eloped with a man like Kash.
Truly fxxking laughable.
Fiona shook her head. "Okay, I got it. Then his life shouldn't be in danger. I'm still working now. I'll go over tomorrow, we'll talk in person."
"Okay," Lip replied.
The call hung up.
Anyway, Ian had already left and his life wouldn't be in danger. Fiona was too lazy to think more about it for the time being and decisively threw herself into work.
The Gallagher House.
Done what could be done, done what shouldn't be done, Lip felt very irritable. "It's late. Ian definitely can't be chased back. Let's talk tomorrow. Go rest."
Carl had no objection to this.
Debbie frowned slightly, feeling Lip was being a bit too indifferent like this, but didn't say much.
---
Past 2 AM.
Fiona finished her last day of work at this bar, left the bar, got into Jimmy's car, lit a cigarette, and only then started pondering about Ian running away from home again.
Jimmy was Fiona's super simp. Seeing Fiona like this, he immediately asked with concern, "What happened?"
There was nothing to hide about this kind of thing. Fiona recounted the matter with a bit of a headache.
After listening.
Jimmy, who didn't know Ian was gay, was slightly surprised. Subsequently, glancing at Fiona, he suddenly realized the situation was probably not good.
Jimmy knew clearly the complex relationship between Fiona and those kids. He immediately thought that now with Ian gone, and school starting soon, Lip alone probably couldn't take care of Debbie, Carl, and Liam...
In this way, Fiona was extremely likely getting cold feet right now, hesitating whether to stay.
Thinking of this.
'Damn Ian, couldn't he fxxking wait a few days to elope?' Jimmy cursed silently. Then, his thoughts raced, thinking about what to say to end Fiona's hesitation.
The fact was, Jimmy guessed very accurately.
Fiona was indeed hesitating, feeling very conflicted.
"Ian left with that Kash, his life shouldn't be in danger," Jimmy thought and thought, suddenly sensing something slightly wrong, and spoke up.
Fiona, with a gloomy face, exhaled a puff of smoke and nodded. "Yeah, I think so too."
"Fiona, Ian will come back very soon. At this age, it's like this. He's too young. After suffering a bit outside, he will definitely come back," Jimmy said again. Subsequently, pretending to be casual, he said, "Lip is very smart, surely thought of this too. Calling you should be just to tell you about this matter."
Hearing this, Fiona felt there was something wrong with these words. "Why do you say that?"
Jimmy originally thought it would take some effort, didn't expect Fiona to take the bait so easily. "I mean, Lip probably wouldn't want to use this matter to keep you."
Hearing this, Fiona: "????"
Jimmy said again with a casual tone, "After receiving Lip's call and knowing about this, you are indeed considering staying, right."
Fiona was speechless: "..."
Jimmy smiled. "Think about it carefully."
Actually, if possible, Jimmy indeed hoped Fiona would go to Michigan with him and stay there for a year.
But, if in the end, Fiona still didn't go...
Then forget it, Jimmy would still go.
The reason was simple.
The car stealing business was bust. Jimmy needed another kind of exciting life, otherwise, life would become flavorless.
Fiona glanced at Jimmy, tilted her head, looked out the window, felt very annoyed inside, didn't speak again, but indeed started thinking silently.
Lip made that call, obviously just to notify...
Then, what was the probability that Jimmy hit the mark, and the reason Lip made that call was mainly to keep her?
If that was really the case...
It meant Lip wanted to use her!!!
Fiona couldn't accept this. The more she thought, the more irritable she became.
---
Unknowingly, a new day.
2118 North Wallace Street.
Bianca took leave this morning, so the morning was more leisurely.
The two ate breakfast unhurriedly, then took Daijiu out for a stroll. Seeing it was about time, they got in the car and headed straight for the police station where Tony worked.
Actually, this was just a procedure.
Dexter donated two million dollars. The police station stepped up, set up a stage, decorated it a bit, invited a few media outlets, gathered the officers in the station, thanked Dexter, talked to Dexter, took some photos, recorded some videos, let Dexter show off...
Just like that, everyone understood.
9 AM.
Bianca held Dexter's arm, going on stage with Dexter a bit nervously... Of course, this was Dexter's request.
Soon, Dexter and Bianca shook hands with the chief in turn, accepting the chief's compliments.
Not long after.
Click click click~~~
Flashbulbs flashed one after another, endlessly.
The whole process took about twenty minutes before ending.
Finally, after exchanging pleasantries with the police chief again, Dexter could take Bianca to the car and leave.
Getting in the car, Dexter looked at his watch. "Still early. How about we go for a stroll?"
"Sure, where to?" Bianca agreed crisply.
"You decide, at your command," Dexter said with a smile.
Bianca thought for a moment. "Then let's go buy clothes."
"Sure enough, women all like buying clothes," Dexter couldn't help teasing.
Hearing this, Bianca rolled her eyes and smiled mischievously. "Just based on your words, you have to pay for all the clothes I buy today."
"Beg me," Dexter smiled back.
---
The Gallagher House, second floor.
Inside Frank's room.
Frank, whose old face was pale as paper, lay on the bed without the slightest movement.
The intellectually disabled Chuckie took a bag of snacks, walked into the room, looked at Frank for a few seconds, felt Frank seemed dead, had a bright idea, walked quickly to Frank's head, extended his chubby hand, and covered Frank's mouth and nose, wanting to see if Frank would react.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
Frank, who actually still had a tiny bit of consciousness, felt unable to breathe, even felt himself floating...
'I died?'
'I really died?'
'Jesus!!!'
'No, I haven't lived enough, haven't played enough!!!'