The Gallagher House, Living Room.
For once, Lip was calm. He put aside most of his usual arrogance and sat down to have a genuine talk with Ian, trying to persuade him to settle down and accept treatnt.
"Ian, I'm not saying you are bipolar. I'm just saying, maybe we can go see a doctor. Just see what they say."
"If you need to take so ds, you just take so ds..."
Lip spoke softly, reasoning with him.
This version of Lip bore a striking resemblance—maybe eighty or ninety percent—to the future Lip: the one who eventually accepted reality, got with Tami, and hunkered down in the hellhole that is the South Side.
Unfortunately.
Bipolar disorder affects the mind, and Ian wasn't hearing a word of it.
Lip kept at it for a while, but it was useless. He didn't dare push Ian too hard, so he went with his backup plan and compromised. "Okay, okay. We won't go to the hospital. But can we make a deal? You can't go out in the middle of the night looking for God anymore."
"You're gonna scare the sht out of Fiona. She's been having a really hard ti lately. She can't handle this right now. You'll cause her to have a breakdown..."
The truth was, Ian still loved and respected Fiona.
Hearing this.
Ian finally reacted. "Okay..."
Lip smiled. He pushed a little further, trying to solidify the agreent.
The brothers talked for a good while until Ian got impatient, bringing the conversation to an end.
"I want to go see Monica. Where is she?" Ian asked.
Hearing this, Lip instantly had a bad feeling in his gut, though he couldn't explain exactly why. After a mont's thought, he told Ian the truth.
A few minutes later.
After bumming so change for the bus from Lip, Ian stood up to leave. "I'll be back by dinner."
Lip looked at Ian with worry but nodded.
Ian didn't say another word. He turned and walked out.
Stepping out of the Gallagher house and into the sunlight, Ian let out a long, heavy breath. He felt like he had just walked out of prison.
---
That afternoon, the South Side was buzzing.
Three consecutive suicides had grabbed a lot of attention, and rumors were flying.
Tony heard so of the whispers, but he didn't care. He didn't have the energy to care. He was too busy running around.
Right now.
Tony and his partner arrived at the latest suicide scene and started going through the motions.
The deceased looked like just another junkie. Plus, there were plenty of eyewitnesses confirming it was indeed suicide, not homicide...
So, Tony and the others didn't really give a damn. They took the photos, wrote the reports.
It was just work.
But soone did care.
In the crowd of onlookers, Karen frowned, staring intently at the dead junkie on the ground. She cared a lot.
The reason was simple.
That junkie was one of the tenants in the apartnt building who refused to pay rent. Karen had seen him. She was sure of it.
Why would he suddenly kill himself?
After a while, snapping out of her daze, Karen blinked, completely confused.
Then, the chatter from the people around her drifted into her ears.
"That's three."
"You think there'll be more?"
"Just a coincidence, probably. It's not like these guys held a eting and decided to off themselves together."
"..."
Hearing this, Karen hesitated for a second, then pulled out her phone. Click, click, click. She searched the news.
In the blink of an eye.
Thump. Her heart dropped.
The first and second suicide victims were also tenants from the apartnt building. And they were both the kind who refused to pay rent!
Karen was a smart girl. Faced with these facts, her expression changed drastically. Her instincts scread that this was no coincidence!!
Within monts, a thought that made her blood run cold surfaced.
Karen rembered the text Dexter sent her yesterday afternoon.
Dexter said he would go talk to the tenants who wouldn't pay rent...
Did Dexter go talk to them?
If he did...
What were the odds that the suicides of these three tenants were connected to Dexter?
The more Karen thought about it, the creepier it felt. More importantly, even though she couldn't prove it, her gut told her they were definitely connected!
Terrifying!!
Karen shook her head violently. She felt a sudden chill all over her body. She didn't dare stay there a second longer. She rushed back to her car and drove away.
---
The sun set in the west, and another day quietly slipped away.
Ritz Hotel, upstairs suite.
Jimmy lit a cigarette. He watched Estefania, who was changing clothes in front of the mirror nearby, shaking her hips. For no reason in particular, he felt a wave of disgust.
In Jimmy's eyes, Estefania was a pure, unadulterated vase—a trophy. Aside from being pretty, she was useless. All day long, she just shopped, ate, drank, dressed up, and talked on the phone.
Speaking of talking on the phone...
Jimmy exhaled a puff of smoke. He recalled how Estefania acted when she was on calls. He was pretty sure this trophy wife was talking to another man.
Simply put.
Jimmy felt like he was wearing the horns. He was getting cuckolded.
The disgust he felt was partly due to that.
He stared blankly for a while, then decided he couldn't stand looking at it anymore. He took a hard drag on his cigarette and decided to go see Fiona.
Jimmy really did love Fiona.
As for how he treated Lip before... thinking about Fiona's reaction last night, Jimmy figured it wasn't a huge problem.
He made up his mind instantly.
Jimmy jumped up, made up an excuse for Estefania, and walked quickly toward the door.
"Okay," Estefania didn't care at all. She answered him while continuing to shake her hips in the mirror.
Leaving the room, Jimmy felt instantly energized. He shook off the lethargy and sped up, rushing downstairs.
Ti flew.
Jimmy parked his car on the side of the road, diagonally across from the Gallagher house. He lit a cigarette, took out his phone, and called Fiona.
Fiona had just gotten ho. She was in the second-floor bathroom, getting ready to shower. She had just taken off her clothes when the phone rang. She picked it up and saw the na [Steve] on the screen. She froze instantly.
Fiona had never changed his na in her contacts.
She stared at it for a few seconds.
Fiona took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and pressed answer. But she didn't speak.
"When do you head to the bar for work?" Jimmy waited two seconds before speaking first, his voice smiling.
Hearing Jimmy's voice again, Fiona's heart skipped a beat.
So people just have that kind of power.
A random encounter, or even just hearing their voice, can shatter your calm and make you lose control.
"None of your business!!" Fiona snapped fiercely once she found her voice.
But the call didn't end. The seconds kept ticking on the screen.
Jimmy smiled faintly. "Maybe I could drive you to work."
Thump.
Fiona, who was pretty sharp when it ca to n, imdiately understood the subtext. Her heart started racing. "Are you outside?"
"Yes," Jimmy replied with a smile.
Fiona didn't know what to say. For a mont, all she could hear was the rapid thud-thud-thud of her own heart.
"Fiona, let the past be the past, okay?" Jimmy spoke again.
Fiona heard him clearly. Then, she thought of that little Brazilian beauty, Estefania. "Where's your wife?"
Asking that ant there was a chance.
Jimmy grinned brilliantly. "I'll handle it. I promise... I want to see you. et in the backyard?"
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