My Personal Stalker

Chapter 40: Darling

Noah looks at me, his eyes full of compassion. "What is it?" I ask after a while.

"Is it true? You had a mental breakdown?" He bites his bottom lip as if he regrets saying something.

I don't want him to feel sorry for me when he is the one who was beaten to the ground. "You know Joe, he just worries too much. I'm fine, especially now that I know you're okay."

Noah narrows his eyes on me. "Chloe, I need you to be honest with me. Don't just say you're fine because you feel the need to do so. I'm here for you."

"I'm fine, really. It's just..." my hands start sweating, "when I was waiting for any news about you, I realized something. At first, I didn't want it to be true because it would have crushed if you were really dying in here."

"You're scaring me, darling." Noah chuckles but keeps his attention on me.

"First of all, can you please stop calling me darling? It really throws me off balance." Another tear rolls down my cheek and lands on Noah's hand. "Second of all, I realized that the reason I was so stirred up is that... I love you." After saying those three simple words, the world seems to stand still. My heart is pounding out of my chest, awaiting an answer from Noah.

I stare at him, his eyes widened, his mouth slightly open. He clears his throat before finally answering. "I can't believe you just said that." I feel like a truck just ran over me. My hands are trembling against his. "Oh god, please don't freak out. I meant that I can't believe you just said that because I wanted to be the one to say it first. I love you with all my heart, Chloe Anderson."

My entire body relaxes in an instant. If it isn't for Noah's hands holding my upright, I would collapse to the ground. "You are such an idiot. I thought you were about to break up with me." I stammer.

Noah pulls me closer and places a kiss on my lips. "I'm so sorry, darling. And yes, I will keep on calling you darling, especially now that I know it has such a huge effect on you." He kisses me again.

"I can't believe I just told you that I loved you. You are one of the meanest people I know." I stop Noah from kissing me again.

"Okay, how many times do I have to tell you that I love you, until you forgive me?" I tilt my head to the side as if thinking about the right answer. "I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you..."

Quickly, I kiss Noah's lips just to stop him from talking. He kisses me back, his tongue slowly entering my mouth. I run my fingers through his messy hair as he pushes his hands underneath my shirt.

Out of a sudden, the door cracks open. We pull back immediately. A young doctor looks up from his notepad, his eyebrows slightly raised. "Miss Anderson, I think I'll have to ask you to leave now since Mr. Shaw needs some rest. But if everything goes well, we can release him from the hospital by the end of the day."

The blood is rushing to my cheeks. "Okay, thank you." I slip out of the room and walk back to where Joe is waiting.

I walk over to Joe who is still talking on the phone. "No, I get it. I'm just saying that you should have been here... Why?... What do you mean 'you can't tell me'?... Aileen, that's crazy... Don't hang up on me.... Aileen!" He turns to me, his face red in anger.

"Everything okay in paradise?" I ask carefully.

Joe just shakes his head. "How is Noah doing?"

"Great, the doctor said he could probably leave by the end of the day." I feel my cheeks heating up again at the thought of what happened. "Anyway, I'm starving. Let's grab some food, so you can tell me everything that's going on between Aileen and you. I've never seen you fight like that before."

After a few seconds, Joe sighs in surrender. "Fine, but I don't even know what's going on. Aileen just freaked out over nothing."

-

We set our food down and sit on opposite sides of the table. "Alright, what did Aileen freak out about?" I ask, stuffing my face with some fries.

Joe won't even touch his food. "Yesterday I went out with a few friends. Apparently, I didn't tell Aileen where we wanted to go because I didn't think it would be important. After a few drinks, Tristan took my phone without me noticing. Aileen called me a few times but I didn't pick up, so she was worried that something happened. She started driving around the city until she finally found me outside of a bar. I didn't think it would be a big deal since I told her I would be out with friends... But Aileen was pretty angry about it. She drove me home and shouted how irresponsible I was and that anything could have happened to me. I told her multiple times that there was nothing to worry about but it only made her angrier. After hours of fighting she just took off and wouldn't return my calls ever since. Of course, only until I called her about Noah." He rubs his temples.

"That doesn't sound like Aileen at all. Are you sure there's not more to the story? Something you did to freak her out like that..."

Joe looks up at me, narrowing his eyes. "No, everything was fine before. I mean I was kind of angry about your plan to fool Mark but we worked it out. And now she's calling me the irresponsible one? Only because I didn't pick up my phone once? That's just ridiculous."

"First of all, I would be worried too if Noah didn't pick up his phone. You saw what can happen... Second of all, I will talk to her and see if there isn't something you missed that pissed her off." I give Joe a reassuring nod.

Finally, he starts eating too. "Thank you."

"But no matter what she says, you should still..." My phone starts ringing. I see an unknown caller ID and pick up. "Hello, it's Chloe Anderson... Really? Yes, I could be there in 5 minutes... Thank you so much for calling."

Joe sets down his food. "Noah?"

"Yes, the doctor said everything was fine and that we could take him home as soon as we get there."

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Hey loves, I'm so sorry that I haven't posted in a while. A few weeks ago, I started in internship and I've worked nonstop ever since. I hope you understand...

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