A week had passed since Noelle made the wrong decision of telling her mother that she was a lesbian. The two of them barely talked to one another during that week, and they tried to continue with their daily lives as if nothing happened. Noelle didn't know what to say to her mother and her mother didn't know what to say back. Noelle's mother wanted to apologize to her daughter and properly talk it out with her but due to her busy life, she had never gotten a chance to do it.

The day after Noelle confessed, the reindeer got up extra early and went to the hospital to visit her father. She wanted to tell him what had happened and to cry it out with him. Noelle knew that Rudolph Holiday would be supportive of her sexuality.

***

It was a cold and windy fall morning and Noelle got up extra early to visit her father. She got into one of her many Christmas sweaters and grabbed her backpack and ran downstairs. Once she reached the bottom of the stairs, she stopped and let out a small cough before slowly walking into the kitchen. She felt her chest hurt more than usual that morning. Once she walked into the room, she noticed her mother eating breakfast while reading the newspaper. "Good morning, mother." Noelle managed to squeak out as she walked to the kitchen counter to make a piece of toast.

Noelle heard her mother turning the newspaper and she turned around to see her mother still reading it. "Good morning." Carol Holiday responded without looking up. Noelle put a piece of toast into the toaster and waited awkwardly at the counter until it was finished. She tried not to come in eye contact with her mother. It was a long and awkward wait and Noelle just looked around the kitchen to pass time. Her eyes found the same sunflower painting on the wall for the third time before the toast popped back up, making her jump a bit. She placed her hand on her chest to catch her breath and took the hot piece of toast out and put it on a plate and lightly buttered it.

She took a bite out of it and placed the rest of it into her mouth and she walked out of the kitchen, wanting to get away from her mother.

She opened the front door, walked out and slammed it shut.

It was a ten minute walk to the hospital, and she ate the toast as she enjoyed the scenery. She hoped Susie had slepted well. Noelle wanted to give Susie a text asking how she slept, but she choose not to because she didn't want to annoy the other girl.

She made it to the hospital and checked herself in at the front desk and walked into her father's room. She knocked on the door before she walked inside. Rudolph Holiday was lying on the bed, looking straight ahed at her. He saw her and laughed out, "Hey, I missed ya! Why didn't you decide to see me sooner?!"

Noelle bit the inside of her cheek when she saw that he looked a little weaker since the last time she had seen him.

He told her the doctors found some 'crap' and that Noelle didn't need to worry about it, but he seemed to be looking more sick and weak every time she saw him. The girl forced a smile at her father, though. She walked up to the side of his bed and gave him a tight hug. "I'm sorry.. some stuff happened, and I haven't been doing well." The girl sheepishly said as she looked down to her fingers and fiddled them around.

"Oh?" Her father asked. "Well, pull up the chair and tell me what the heck's bugging ya!"

Noelle nodded and brought a chair that was leaning against the wall next to his bed. She continued to look down at her fingers, "Well.. last night... I um.." Despite knowing her father would most definitely be supportive of her, she had a bad few thoughts in the back of her mind. A few what-if's? What if he had the same thoughts of her that her mother had?

"Noelle? Don't just leave me on edge here!" He laughed out, gasping out into a few light coughs afterwards.

"...I confessed to mother that I was a lesbian. She didn't.. like it very much." She said, avoiding eye contact with her father. Rudy paused for a few moments before bursting out into laughter again, coughing out weakly after. "Let me tell you Noelle: your mother is extremely old fashioned at times! She may have not liked it, but she'll get over it within a few days time! As for my opinion? Who the hell cares! You're still my same daughter who I love to bits! So what that you like boobs?!"

Noelle's face turned deep red, but she instantly calmed down when her father told her that. She was happy that he was being supportive. "Thanks.." She cracked a smile, standing up from the chair. She walked over to him, giving him a gentle hug. "I miss you so much... Get better, okay? Oh! And I forgot to tell you.. I am dating a girl now. Her name is Susie."

"Of course I will get better! It's just some dumb crap, right? Oh, and next time you visit, you better bring Susie and your Nintendo DS so we can finally beat that damn Mario game!"

Noelle smiled more, laughing out a bit. "You got it!"

***

Unfortunately for Noelle, the Hanahaki disease wasn't getting any better either. She found herself coughing up more petals and being out of breath more often. She guessed it was because Susie didn't truly love her back yet. When she realized that, she made herself talk and hang out with Susie more. She tried to be a little more affectionate towards Susie. Luckily, every day after school, the two of them would go to Noelle's home to play Breath of the wild. Susie would play the game while Noelle did her homework and studying, as well as texting Berdly about that HAMLET project.

***

Noelle watched Susie as she played Breath of the Wild while she worked on her HAMLET project. Susie had been coming over to her house for the last five days, and thankfully for Noelle and her room, Susie had gotten much better at the game and didn't break anything whenever she got a GAME OVER.

Susie was currently in one of the dungeons and she was getting beat up by the boss with its powerful lightning attacks. Link got hit with lightning and he died again, causing Susie to groan out loudly. "Okay, how the FUCK am I supposed to fight this thing?! I can barely see where the hell the lightning is coming from!"

Noelle looked over from her HAMLET book and she couldn't help but to let a small giggle out. "Keep trying!" She said, "Its a pretty hard boss! Maybe you should drink a defense or lighting resistance potion?"

"Wait...you can DO that?! Damn, this game is awesome!" Susie said, laughing a bit as she started the boss again. She decided to take Noelle's suggestion and she left the dungeon to make a potion with some of the materials she had collected. Noelle checked the time on her phone and noticed her mother was going to be home soon. "Ah..." She brought up, "My mother is going to be home soon. We should continue tomorrow."

Susie pulled out her own phone and checked the time.

5:30 pm.

"Shit. I should get going, huh?" Susie muttered, saving and exiting the game. Noelle was happy that she knew how to do that now.

She was proud of her girlfriend!

Once Susie saved and exited, she stood up and placed the controller on the TV stand that was cluttered with other gaming controllers to other systems.

Noelle closed the book and got off of her bed, coughing out deeply afterwards.

Every day, Noelle would ask Susie for a simple kiss before the larger girl would leave so she could try to get to know her more. She also did this in hopes to get Susie to fall in love with her so she wouldn't die from this disease. Normally, Noelle would want to take their relationship slowly, but her life was on the line!

And she could feel the symptoms worsening each day.

Noelle wanted to try something new today. No... It wasn't sex. Noelle definitely couldn't bring herself to get Susie to do THAT with her, but the reindeer wanted to do the passionate kiss again. Maybe that would get Susie to like her a little more? Noelle grabbed Susie's hand as she walked to the door and Susie stopped and looked at her. "Yes?"

"Oh... Um... Susie?"

"Yeah?"

"Can... We kiss again?"

"Oh shit, yeah.. you wanted kisses every day, right?" Noelle blushed a bit and turned away. "Y-Yeah... Because of the disease... Its... Getting worse." Susie smiled a bit, "Sure. I can give you a kiss."

Noelle shook her head, still avoiding eye contact with her girlfriend. "Not that kind of kiss... I want to kiss you like how we kissed in the hallway on that day."

Susie paused a moment, as if she was thinking. Noelle's heart began to race and she looked to the side, starting to freak out. Should I have not asked for that? She thought to herself. I am making her uncomfortable, aren't I? Noelle opened her mouth and began to talk, "Actually, nevermi--" She was cut off by Susie sighing softly. "Sure. We can do that, if you want."

Noelle looked back at Susie, but she had a feeling Susie wasn't actually looking at her despite facing towards the deer. It was as if she was avoiding eye contact with her. Noelle wondered if she was blushing under her thick and messy hair that covered her face. "I guess..." Susie muttered, focusing her vision back at Noelle. Noelle thought she heard Susie take a deep breath, as if she was nervous.

Susie walked closer to Noelle and placed her hand under the other girl's chin, making her look up at her. Noelle's heart was racing even more and she felt a little lightheaded. Susie filled the distance between their faces and their lips pressed together softly. Unlike the first time they made out, this was a gentle kiss, similar to the times Susie kissed her after she played video games. Noelle happily kissed her back, face turning a little red. Susie deepened the kiss and she nibbled on Noelle's bottom lip, wanting an entrance. Noelle opened her mouth a bit, letting the other girl in to explore her mouth. Noelle's tongue tried to fight back with Susie's larger tongue, but she was losing. Noelle felt a soft moan escape her mouth and felt herself losing breath.

Noelle wrapped her arms around the other girl and she felt around Susie's back and moved her hands to Susie's upper arms to feel them. She still couldn't believe they were kissing like this and that she was dating her! Oh, and how strong Susie really was under that over sized cardigan.

Noelle enjoyed the kiss for a little while longer, and Susie pulled away to catch her breath. Noelle panted lightly to catch her breath too and she began to drool a bit. She loved every second of that kiss and she wished they could have kissed for longer! It sucked that she got out of breath easily now. Noelle wiped the drool off of her mouth with her sleeve.

Susie soon moved closer to kiss Noelle again, but this time it wasn't on the lips. Noelle felt Susie kiss her neck and the smaller girl moved her hands behind the other girl's back. What is she doing? The reindeer thought to herself. Susie kissed around Noelle's neck and shoulders and the smaller girl let out a soft moan, gripping onto the back of Susie's cardigan. "A-Ahh--Susie--!" She breathed out, only to be cut off by her own gasp when Susie bit her on the neck, followed by giving her more kisses around the sore spot.

Susie pulled away and Noelle blushed some more, covering her neck. "Wh-Why did you do that?"

"You're my girlfriend, right?" Susie chuckled a bit, wiping her mouth from saliva. "I'm making you mine."

The girl's face turned a shade darker. The HAMLET presentations were the next day, and Noelle knew she was going to get a mark on her neck!

"How am I supposed to hide this?!"

Susie shrugged. "Hell if I know." She let out a low laugh, "Think of something. Anyways, I doubt your mom would want to see me here, so.. I should get going." Susie turned around, "See ya."

"Bye." Noelle smiled.

Susie walked off downstairs to the foyer and slipped her feet into her old and torn up shoes that were on a mat off to the side. She fixed her cardigan and shirt and opened the front door, stepping outside and shutting it afterwards. She walked off the property and pulled a box of cigarettes out from her pocket. She lit one and blew smoke out and walked to Kris' house. Susie hoped that Noelle didn't notice her being nervous and blushing. She still didn't know jack shit about romantic interactions, but at least she was starting to do some research with her new phone.

And apparently kissing and making marks on your lover's neck made them yours or some bullshit like that..

***

It was soon the next day.

The day of the HAMLET presentations.