NOVEL WEB Chapter 60: Chapter 60: Who Is It, Really?
Chapter 60: Who Is It, Really?
"Karen is going to make it. She's that kind of amazing kid."
"But Frank... what can I even do to help her become the kind of lady she dreams of being? I can't even walk out of this house."
"She's not going to college because of me. If this keeps up, I'll end up trapping her here with me, never letting her see the world. I wanted to take her to see the sunset, the forests, the Grand Canyon…"
"This world—my life, the people around me—everything is changing quietly, and I'm missing it all. I couldn't even go to my precious daughter's parent-teacher conference. Why am I so pathetic?"
Watching the video, Sheila was overwhelmed. Her emotions were raw and sorrowful, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Karen growing up had already stirred complex feelings in her. Now, with Officer Eddie's death, she felt the weight of life's impermanence more than ever, and she could barely hold it together.
"Hey," Frank said gently, "things don't stay the same forever. Everything's going to get better."
"Karen won't stay trapped in this house. She will go to college. She'll make friends, have her own social circle. One day, she'll get married and have kids of her own."
"And you, one day, will walk out that front door—without hesitation, without fear. You'll go to her graduation. You'll see her dance with boys at the prom. You'll see those boys fight over her. You'll be there at her wedding."
Sheila's sadness slowly melted into a smile as Frank spoke, painting a future she could almost believe in.
"Oh, Frank..." she said softly, leaning against his shoulder, a warm, content expression replacing her grief.
"So," Frank continued, "you can't let a little fear beat you. You've already walked out of this house once. If you did it once, you can do it again. You just need to find that same resolve."
"Karen's holding back from college because she's worried about you. So you can't let her keep worrying. You've got to fight your fear. If you can start going out again, she'll have the peace of mind to chase her own future."
"You're right. I can't drag Karen down with me. I have to change!" Sheila said, determination sparking in her eyes.
"Frank, thank you... Thank you for being my guiding light. I don't even want to imagine what I'd have become if you hadn't been here through all of this…" she said, pressing closer to him.
"Everything's going to be okay," Frank said, patting her gently on the shoulder.
That night, Sheila flushed all her medication down the toilet—her way of showing her resolve to start over.
With the matter of the shapeshifter and Officer Eddie resolved, Sheila and Karen's situation had reached a calm, if temporary, conclusion.
Now, Frank could finally turn his attention back to his own home.
He hadn't forgotten what he'd found in Lip and Ian's room: that hyper-masculine comic book titled Adonis Physique .
But of course, you can't just ask someone directly if they're gay—especially not your own kid. Frank had to find another way to figure it out.
"Hey Karen, what's Lip like at school? Does he have any really close guy friends?" Frank asked casually.
Karen, being Lip's GF, probably knew him best—no one spent more time with him.
"Lip? Close guy friends? Not really. It's not so much that he has lots of friends—it's more like he has lots of... clients. Just yesterday I even helped him get a paper-writing gig."
"No especially close male friends?" Frank asked, trying to probe further.
"Hmm... no, not really," Karen replied after thinking about it.
"What about... you know, when you two were, uh, doing stuff... did he have any unusual kinks?" Frank asked, blushing with embarrassment halfway through his sentence.
"Unusual kinks?" Karen tilted her head, thinking. "Not really. Lip's kind of a traditionalist when it comes to sex."
Frank was red in the face, but Karen wasn't fazed at all. Given her blunt honesty at the Purity ball, it was clear Karen had seen and done a lot—definitely not a sheltered girl.
"Well, guess that rules out Lip... which only leaves Ian," Frank muttered to himself after their conversation.
As if on cue, Ian walked through the door just then.
He wasn't alone—his girlfriend, a flashy-looking girl, was with him.
"Heya, Frank~!" the girl greeted cheerfully before heading upstairs with Ian.
Yes, Ian had a girlfriend now—Mandy from the Milkovich family.
Their relationship had a rocky start. Mandy once accused Ian of insulting her, and her brother Mickey had hunted Ian down with his gang, ready to beat him up in revenge.
Frank had to fire a gun in the air to scare them off. That incident had actually improved Frank and Ian's relationship quite a bit.
Not long after, Ian and Mandy had somehow become a couple, and now they were often seen together. Frank had met her a few times.
To be honest, Frank didn't have a great impression of Mandy.
By Western standards, she was attractive—sexy, even—but Frank's taste leaned toward Asian aesthetics thanks to his past life, so Mandy didn't really do it for him.
But it wasn't just her looks. Mandy dressed provocatively: crop tops, miniskirts, bare legs even in winter, heavy smoky eye makeup, and multiple piercings. She looked every bit the rebellious delinquent—not someone Frank would consider a "proper" girl.
"You need something?" Ian asked as Frank walked into the room.
"Just gonna use the computer," Frank said, pretending to fiddle with it while sneaking glances at the couple.
Ian was lying across the bed, legs draped over Mandy's lap. Mandy was leaning against the wall, flipping through a magazine, while Ian read a book. They were sharing a snack bag, comfortable and intimate.
They looked like a couple deeply in love—one that had definitely done everything there was to do.
"Huh... Ian doesn't seem gay either..." Frank frowned.
But that Adonis Physique comic didn't lie. Between Lip and Ian, one of them had to be gay.
When the kids left for school the next day, Frank snuck into their room again and searched thoroughly.
"Lip's not the one... it's Ian who's gay," Frank concluded, staring at the evidence he'd finally dug up.