The Gallagher House.
First Floor.
Carl, Debbie, and Liam were watching TV when the sudden, violent banging on the door startled them, followed by angry cursing. They were all confused and a little freaked out.
Second Floor.
Lip wasn't scared, but he was instantly annoyed. He rushed to the window and looked down.
After assessing the situation for two seconds, Lip snapped into action. He threw on some clothes and sprinted downstairs in one breath, shouting at Carl and Debbie, "Don't open the door! Pretend nobody's home!"
Carl glanced back at Lip, nodded, and didn't make a sound.
Debbie was even more confused. "What happened?"
"What you did happened," Lip was pissed at Debbie. Not because she locked two kids in a dog cage, but because she got caught on video. He snapped back a reply and then quickly explained the situation.
Hearing this, Debbie instantly panicked. "Huh? Who took a video? What do we do now?"
"Don't worry about that right now. I'll figure it out," Lip said, pulling out his phone to call Fiona.
The daycare was Fiona's baby.
The screaming woman outside—and the other parents or cops who were likely on their way—were looking for Fiona.
In Lip's mind, if they wanted to de-escalate this from a disaster to a minor incident, Fiona had to come back immediately. She needed to be the one to lie to the parents and the cops face-to-face...
Of course, the daycare was dead in the water.
But compared to Fiona going to prison, closing the daycare was nothing.
The call connected quickly.
"Fiona, parents are at the door looking for you. Listen to me, get in a cab and come back right now..." Lip said decisively, cutting straight to the point.
"Okay," Fiona replied, her heart pounding with anxiety. She agreed immediately and sprinted for the exit.
Jasmine saw her rushing. "I'll come with you. Maybe I can help."
"No need. You stay and have fun," Fiona didn't even look back as she ran.
She burst out of the club, hailed a cab, and jumped in. Panting, she called Meg, the club manager, and lied through her teeth without missing a beat. "Meg, I'm so sorry. Something happened to Liam. It's life-threatening. I have to go home right now..."
When it came to lying, Meg and Fiona were not on the same level.
Or to put it another way: Meg couldn't imagine someone lying about a dying baby. So, she agreed immediately and forgave Fiona for bailing on her shift.
Hanging up, Fiona let out a breath of relief. Then, she opened YouTube, found the video, and started reading the comments section again.
---
The cursing outside the Gallagher house was loud enough that Dexter and Bianca obviously heard it.
Hearing that commotion...
Heh-heh.
Loving a spectacle is practically human nature.
Based on the specific curses being hurled, Dexter knew exactly what was going on. So, without hesitation, he cut up a watermelon, put it on a platter, grabbed a chair, and sat right on his porch to act as a proper spectator.
Watching Dexter's whole setup...
"????" Bianca found it incredible and hilarious. "You're watching a fight, why make it so formal?"
Dexter scooped a piece of watermelon with a spoon and offered it to Bianca. "This is a tradition from my hometown. This is how you watch the drama unfold. Try it?"
Bianca leaned in slightly, ate the watermelon, and looked skeptical. "Really?"
"Really. Go bring the other half of the watermelon out here. Try it and see," Dexter grinned.
A moment later.
On the porch of 2118 North Wallace Street, Dexter and Bianca were sitting side-by-side, eating watermelon and watching the show.
By this time, it was only natural that plenty of neighbors had come out of their houses, looking at the Gallagher place with excitement or curiosity.
Realizing she had an audience, the screaming woman didn't mind at all. She loudly explained the situation to the onlookers, including Dexter.
And then, something very interesting happened!!
Remember, the people living here—aside from Dexter and Bianca—were all shameless bastards themselves.
These scumbags didn't get righteous or indignant about a little child abuse. Instead, their reactions were baffling.
"You got balls, lady, trusting a Gallagher with your kid."
"The Gallaghers are trash. Where'd you get the courage to leave a kid there?"
"And a little boy, too? Aren't you afraid Fiona, that town bicycle, might..."
"..."
Suddenly, all sorts of bizarre comments were flying around.
The screaming woman was dumbfounded.
Bianca was equally shocked. She couldn't understand why these people were reacting this way. She stared, stunned.
Dexter just chuckled, enjoying the show.
Victim blaming. Interesting.
Of course, to be fair, the screaming woman wasn't exactly winning Mother of the Year either.
Everyone knew what the Gallaghers were like. If that woman knew their reputation and still chose to send her kid there... did she really care about the kid? Hard to say.
Thinking this, Dexter happily ate another piece of watermelon.
The screaming woman ignored the hecklers and went back to screaming.
As she yelled, suddenly, two beat-up cars screeched to a halt in front of the Gallagher house, one after the other.
In a flash, two couples got out. Two of the women immediately joined the screaming chorus. One demanded a refund from Fiona, while the other cursed Fiona for locking her son in a dog cage...
Before they knew it, a few minutes had passed.
More women arrived.
"Fiona Gallagher, you bitch! Get out here!!"
"Are you even human?!"
"Fxxk you!"
Just like that, the air was filled with a relentless stream of filthy insults.
---
"Dexter, what kind of people are that family next door?" Bianca had never seen a scene like this in her life. She was genuinely shocked, forgetting to eat her watermelon as she asked in confusion.
Dexter, still leisurely enjoying his melon, grinned brightly. "That family? Except for Carl, they are all shameless."
"Any shameless act you can imagine, they can do it. Not only do they do it, but they think it's normal. They are a group of people with practically zero bottom line."
"This thing happening right now? To them, this is just a minor inconvenience."
Bianca listened, stunned into silence.
After a long while, she finally spoke. "No wonder Carl ran out on his medical bill before."
"Haha, that's nothing. Their father, Frank Gallagher, has been in and out of hospitals his whole life and has never paid a dime," Dexter laughed.
Bianca: "..."
What could she say?
Bianca gave a bitter smile.
Dexter scooped another spoon of watermelon and offered it to her. "If you look at them from a different angle, they're actually quite entertaining."
Bianca ate the watermelon. " entertaining how?"
"Hard to describe," Dexter replied.
---
The Gallagher House.
Debbie was young, but she wasn't stupid. She knew locking kids in a dog cage was abuse, and abuse was illegal. She was on the verge of tears.
"Lip, what do we do? There are more people outside. They won't leave. Am I going to get arrested?" Debbie asked frantically.
Lip smoked his cigarette hard, trying to suppress his annoyance as he comforted her. "Don't panic. We'll handle it."
To the side.
Karen was holding back a laugh, watching the drama with a calm face. As she watched, she pulled out her phone and sent a text to Dexter.