Chapter 140 – The Will
"Frank is dead!?" Fiona and the others stared in shock, eyes wide.
After learning the "truth" from Sheila, Karen consoled her, then went straight to Frank's house to break the news to the kids.
"That's impossible! We're talking about Frank here. There's no way he's just... dead," Fiona said, her first reaction disbelief.
And she wasn't alone. None of them wanted to believe it.
"Exactly! That's Frank. People die—Frank doesn't. He's like a cockroach—stubbornly clinging to life no matter what," Kevin said.
Veronica nodded in agreement. They just couldn't accept it.
"Dad would never die. You're lying!" Debbie burst into tears, yelling as she tried to shove Karen away. Fiona quickly held her back.
"Frank passed from illness. He was diagnosed with cancer a while ago," Karen said, her voice heavy with sorrow.
It wasn't just Fiona and the others who found it hard to believe—even Karen herself struggled to accept it. Frank had been like a real father to her, someone who gave her the warmth of paternal love she'd long missed.
"Cancer!?" everyone gasped, stunned by the revelation.
"Yes," Karen said, taking out a medical report. "This is the diagnosis."
Even staring at the report, the group couldn't wrap their heads around it. None of them had known Frank had cancer.
"Frank didn't want to worry any of you," Karen explained. "Only my mom and I knew. He made us promise not to tell you."
"This has got to be fake!" The voice of protest didn't come from Fiona—it came from Lip, who had always held a grudge against Frank.
"He definitely forged it to gain your sympathy," Lip sneered. "Probably just a scam to get money from you."
Lip knew "Frank" all too well. For money, there was nothing the old man wouldn't do—not even selling his own dignity. Forging a medical report was child's play for him.
Hearing Lip's doubts, the others, despite their shock and sorrow, started to show signs of hesitation.
It was no surprise—Frank's past reputation cast a long shadow.
"There's a phone number for the doctor on the report. If you don't believe me, call and ask for yourself," Karen said sharply, raising an eyebrow at Lip with a hint of sarcasm.
Karen had spent more time with Frank in recent years and didn't understand why Fiona and the others couldn't appreciate how much he'd changed. To her, he'd become a genuinely good man, someone she couldn't believe they'd once cast out of their lives.
She used to be close with Lip, and he had told her plenty about the "old Frank." But after spending so much time with him herself, Karen stopped believing Lip's words. Their breakup was partly because of this.
"Hello? Who's this?" Fiona called the doctor using speakerphone so everyone could hear.
"Hi, this is Fiona. I'm Frank's daughter. I wanted to ask about his medical condition…"
"Oh, Old Frank? Yeah, I remember him. He gave me a quality Big M once," the doctor said, chuckling. "Yeah, his health was definitely not good. We didn't do a full biopsy, but from the preliminary external checkups, it looked like testicular cancer. Probably malignant—but I can't say for sure without further testing."
"Usually it's young men who get testicular cancer. At his age, that's rare."
"I told him to come back for a biopsy—it would've been free. But he never showed up. Probably got scared."
"Man, that was... what, almost six months ago? If it was malignant, he might be dead by now—haha, just kidding."
"Anyway, tell your dad to drop by if he's still around." With that, the doctor hung up.
"…" The room went completely silent. Everyone had heard it—everything the doctor said.
And just like that, Karen's words were confirmed. The diagnosis was real. It wasn't a scam.
"This can't be…" Lip muttered, the cigarette in his mouth falling onto his lap, his expression dazed.
"You heard it yourselves," Karen said quietly.
"Why didn't you tell us!?" Fiona snapped, her eyes red with frustration and guilt.
"And what would've changed?" Karen replied, her voice rising slightly. "Mom and I tried for months to convince Frank to get treatment. But do you know how much it costs to treat cancer? Do you know what the survival rate is?"
"He didn't want to waste the money. He didn't want you to worry. That's why he made us promise not to tell you."
Karen then reached under the table and placed a small box in front of Fiona. "He left this with my mom. Told her that if he ever died, she should give it to you."
Everyone instinctively turned their eyes toward the box.
"It contains Frank's will… and whatever he left behind," Karen explained.
"His… estate?" someone blurted out, incredulous.
A will seemed plausible—but an inheritance?
Everyone here knew Frank. The idea of him leaving behind an inheritance was laughable.
"It's probably just a bunch of IOUs and debt slips," Kevin muttered.
"There might be some money," Veronica said with a smirk, remembering how her mom once lied to her—promising a large inheritance if she got married. The "inheritance" ended up being just five hundred bucks. Maybe Frank's estate wouldn't be much different. Still, even a few hundred would help with the kids' expenses.
"Open it! Let's see what's inside!" Veronica urged.
Only Fiona had the right to open it.
She hesitated, hand on the lid, then finally lifted it.
There wasn't much inside. No cash. Just a bank card, a few documents, several small booklets, and a sealed letter.
They took out the envelope first.
> "If you're reading this letter… then I'm probably already dead," it began.
Frank had written a lot in that letter—his regrets, his hopes for his children, his apologies. He even included words from the "old Frank," the man he once was, things he never said out loud.
Like the time he got high and forgot toddler Fiona in the park, and she had to carry baby Lip and Ian all the way back to find him.
This letter was written by both the man Frank had become, and the man he used to be. He had poured everything into it.
Because when a person dies, their light goes out—and if there was anything left to say, it had to be said now.
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