The world begins with shameless people

Christmas Day on the South Side of Chicago.

Everywhere you look, you can see joyful scenes;

Although most of the shameless people in the South District were extremely poor, on days like this, most of them still found a way to get a Christmas tree, put it in the front yard, and decorate it to some extent.

Fiona walked and watched, holding a cigarette in her mouth, and her face and heart became more and more sad.

Sad and sad...
The past twenty years of my life unconsciously emerged in my mind in a fleeting manner.

Afterwards, she couldn't help but imagine what she would be like now if Frank and Monica had died long ago, if Monica had disappeared and she hadn't taken on the responsibility of raising those bastards including Lip...
She felt that everything would be fine. She wouldn't be stuck on Christmas Day with nowhere to go, a lot of grievances and no one to talk to.

Yes.

Comrade Fiona Gallagher still doesn't feel that her life is like this, mainly because of herself.

Time passes slowly.

Fiona took a deep breath, took out her cell phone and opened the address book.

When Fiona saw the name of her former best friend, Veronica, her heart moved slightly, and she felt very complicated. Then, she moved her eyes again and dialed Jimmy's number.

The fact is, she chose Sean between him and Jimmy, and did not break up with Jimmy or say she would not contact him...the two of them just tacitly cut off contact.

Now, Sean, that bastard, treated her like that...

Jimmy doesn't like his parents and brothers, so he didn't go home for Christmas...and because he is still single and doesn't care about holidays like Christmas, he is still staying in the hospital, enjoying the excitement of saving lives.

Seeing Fiona's name on the phone screen, Jimmy was slightly startled. Then, he pressed the answer button and said with a smile, "Hello, Fiona, Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," Fiona replied mechanically, "How are you doing?"

"I'm fine," Jimmy smiled back, "How about you?"

Fiona Gallagher is not a woman who likes to show weakness to others, "I'm fine too."

Jimmy didn't believe it, but after thinking about it, he didn't expose it and waited for Fiona to continue.

Fiona didn't know what to say for a moment.

The two of them just remained silent in tacit understanding.

There was silence for several seconds.

Jimmy thought this was not a big deal, so he said, "Fiona, are you calling me?"

"I suddenly thought of you." In fact, Fiona herself didn't know what purpose she wanted to achieve by making this call.

It's just like her life.

She had lived for more than twenty years, but she had always been living passively, without any real purpose of her own.

Jimmy heard it and thought for a moment, "I happened to not be home today, how about having lunch together at noon?"

"Okay," Fiona agreed subconsciously without even thinking about it.

"Well, is it convenient for you to come to the hospital? I'm still at work," Jimmy asked, "or, I'll pick you up at noon."

Fiona didn't want to go home and face Lip and the others right now. "I'll go to the hospital. You don't need to pick me up."

"Okay, see you later then," Jimmy replied.

"See you later," Fiona responded.

After the call ended and Fiona had a place to go, her bad mood improved a little.

***************
2108 North Wallace Street.

Gallagher is a very strong presence.

After a good night's sleep, the bad things that happened yesterday became a thing of the past. Debbie Gallagher cheered up and got busy to welcome the New Year. Ian didn't really have much interest in the New Year, but, how should I put it... On the one hand, there was no better place to go, and on the other hand, it was not suitable to leave Debbie today, so he also got busy.

The brother and sister celebrated the festival together, pretending to be happy.

On the other side, Karl’s house was not far away.

Frank and Monica wake up.

Seeing her beloved son Lip suddenly appear, Monica rushed over excitedly, opened her arms and wanted to hug Lip, "Lip, you're back!!!"

Lip was not willing to be hugged by Monica, so he said with a stern face, "Stop, don't touch me!"

When Monica heard this, she stopped moving sadly and withdrew her arms.

But, the next second, Monica smiled again, acting as if she had never been rejected by Lip, and said with a smile, "Lip, how is college life? I knew you could do it, and you must be the best in college..."

Fiona was right. Among so many children, Monica's favorite was indeed Lip.

Maybe it’s because Lip looks almost exactly like Frank when he was young?
Listening to Monica's words and looking at her smiling face...

Lip felt extremely annoyed and interrupted decisively, "Monica, why are you back again?"

Monica was stunned for two seconds. She didn't dare to laugh anymore and replied weakly, "It's time..."

Lip took a long drag on his cigarette. "No one wants you to come back. Haven't you ruined us enough?"

"Lip..." Monica felt aggrieved and didn't know what to say.

the fact is.

Monica really felt aggrieved.

In Monica's opinion, what did she do wrong... She didn't steal the children's things to sell for money, she just wanted to live the way she wanted.

What's wrong with that?

"Stop talking," Lip took another long drag on his cigarette, "I don't want to talk to you."

Hearing this, Monica was about to cry. She looked at Lip and was speechless, "....."

At this moment, Frank, who had been standing nearby without saying anything, couldn't help but speak up, shouting in a stern tone, "Philip Ronan Gallagher, you can't talk to your mother like that!"

When Lip heard this, he thought it was ridiculous and almost laughed out loud. He raised his middle finger to Frank and said, "Fuck you!"

Frank is a bully at home. When Lip confronted him like this in front of Monica, he immediately opened his mouth to curse back.

Monica took the lead and hurried to stop him, "Frank, stop it!"

After stopping Frank, Monica smiled at Lip and said, "I'll go make lunch for you."

Words come out.

Monica pulled Frank into the kitchen.

Lip took a look and took a few puffs of his cigarette in annoyance. He wanted to curse again, but felt that it was completely meaningless.

On the sofa next to me.

Liam stared with big eyes, feeling very bad about what just happened.

Carl actually didn't like such noise, but he didn't know what to say, so he just ignored it and watched TV without saying a word, without intervening or participating.

for a while.

In the house, only Frank was left chattering in the kitchen. (End of this chapter)