iii

IT'S SOUTH - III

"Hello?"

"Chloe, what the fuck are you doing?"

The green eyed girl sighed, walking further away from the stage so that she can clearly hear the person she is talking to on the other line. "I'm hanging out with Stan."

"Go the fuck home right now. You know you're not allowed to go to places where there are too much people."

"Dad, I'm fine. I don't even feel anything wrong with me at all."

"Chloe, I told you to go home right now. It's not safe for you to be out there partying with some stranger-"

"Stanley's not a stranger."

"You've only known him for a week."

"Our relationship isn't defined by how long we've known each other, dad." Chloe couldn't help but raise her voice. She didn't mean to sound disrespectful, but she couldn't help but get mad at her father for putting the blame to her friend about something he didn't even do,

or know.

"I'm just looking out for you, princess. It's not safe for you to be going out on concerts or parties or any other crowded places. It's going to worsen your condition-"

"Dad, I said I'm fine." The green eyed girl cut her off, dropping the call, putting her phone on silent and pushing it back inside her pocket.

She knew that her father just wants to make sure she's okay, but she does not want to spend the rest of her life hiding inside her (or South's) apartment just because of her condition.

Chloe is diagnosed with Hypertonic Cardiomyopathy.

Since she was a kid, she wasn't allowed to go to crowded places as it may cause her to get too tired, resulting to a struggle of breathing normally. She was homeschooled just so that she wouldn't have to go through the struggles of eating lunch in a crowded cafeteria or walk through the crowded hallways of her school to be able to get to her classes.

Ever since her family found out about her condition, they have always been extra protective of her. It was very hard for her dad to let her live in an apartment in New York all by herself, but he knew that he had no choice because things like this are just really meant to happen sooner or later. Chloe couldn't live under his roof for the rest of her life.

She's never had many friends, aside from her cousin Rocky. She's literally the only person Chloe has ever played with when they were kids because her dad was too scared that going out on a playground or at the park is going to cause her too much physical activity.

She also knew a girl called Dennise, whom she met online. She didn't know why but the moment they chatted, it just clicked, and the green eyed girl was very thankful for that. She's met Dennise's girlfriend as well, Alyssa, whom she can safely call her friend too. They often visit her in her apartment during their free time. In fact, the day she escorted the two to the bus stop was also the day she found a black camera bag lying on the cemented ground, seemingly dropped by someone.

The day she met Stanley South.

The day she knew that he was the love of her life.

The day she realized that she has to live her life to the fullest, especially now that she's found him, her other half.

"Chloe, everything okay?"

Chloe was pulled out of her thoughts when she heared a familiar voice from behind. She turned around only to be met with her favorite hazelnut orbs staring right through her soul.

She decided to shake her thoughts off and give him the sweetest smile. "Ofcourse. Come on, let's get back inside."

South's hand was grabbed by the green eyed girl as they went back inside the venue of the live concert of The 1975. He didn't know how Chloe found out about his obssession with the band. The girl just stormed inside his apartment that night, asking him to get dressed because they were going to a concert. He smiled to himself when he remembered the visible frustration on Chloe's face when he was taking too long to convince.

"God, Stan. Can you just do it? And hurry up, will you? We're running out of time, it's about to start in a few minutes!"

South chuckled as he made his way towards his room to change. "I'm honestly loving your surprises, Chloe. Maybe you should hide things from me more often."

Little did he know, the green eyed girl's already hiding a huge secret from him.

Only this time, he would never like the surprise.

Lying about her condition didn't make things easier for Chloe either. The first time she entered the brown haired boy's apartment without consent was because she just desperately needed someone to talk to.

"Chloe, why did you come here?"

The green eyed girl tried her best to ignore the question and just continue watching one of the videos on South's old camera. She was doing a pretty good job ignoring him until the camera was snatched out of her grip by her new neighbor. "Hey, come on I wanna watch!"

"What is it that you need?"

'You.' Chloe mentally slapped herself for almost saying that. "I just wanted to hang out."

'The truth is, I need someone to talk to because I'm having one of those nights where I feel so bad for myself for having this kind of life and being stuck in a situation that I literally can't do anything about.'

"Hey."

Chloe's attention immediately turned to her brown haired neighbor, who took a quick shot of her with his camera the moment she turned around to face him.

She knew she was blushing. Fortunately, it was pretty dark in there for South to notice.

"What was that for?" She shyly asked the latter who is now looking at the beautiful photo of the girl he loves that he just took.

Yes, he loves Chloe.

He didn't know how. All he knew was that one day, his annoying green eyed neighbor would storm inside his apartment without any warning to force him to hang out with her, and then the next day, he loves her.

He loves her.

I love you. South thought to himself as he admired the photo of the wonderful person he's looking at on his old camera.

He looked up at Chloe, who's already looking at him expectantly for answers, and smiled before responding.

"You asked me that night if I could take your photo with my camera, right?"

Chloe didn't know how to respond to that. She didn't even know how to feel at that very second. She wanted to cry because of the incredible joy her heart feels at that moment, but at the same time, she wanted to cry out of guilt.

She knew that the brown haired boy deserves to know about her condition because she never know if she might just leave him all by himself one day. She didn't want to surprise her Stan with something that's far different from the random The 1975 concert tickets. She wants to just tell him because she knows that's what she must do if she really do love him.

And she really do.

I love you.

She didn't hesitate to wrap both of her arms around South's neck and pull him in for a tight embrace. She burried her face deep into his neck, trying to hold in a huge wave of tears. However, she failed, because the moment she whispered three words in the brown haired boy's ear, tears just started to endelssly flow down her face.

"I love you."

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