Twelve: Rumors

Tifa and Noctis had found out from Prompto that Luna started attending the unversity, which greatly enraged her ex. Tifa on the other hand had suddenly become uneasy, it was so easy to read Luna and what her intentions were, she couldn't help but feel insecure now that she will frequently be seen by Noctis, and she didn't know how deep their bond was before they broke up because of her unfaithfulness.

Tifa knew how much Noctis loves her, but still, she couldn't help but worry, but since she didn't want to cause any problems with her relationship with Noctis, she kept quiet about what she was , she wanted Noctis to feel that she trusts him fully, and she actually does, it was Luna she didn't trust and she felt bad for thinking that way towards a person.

"That's just crazy." Yuffie said while she munched on some cookies, both her and Tifa are sitting at one of the benches on the university grounds where no students actually hang out. "Aren't you gonna do anything about it?" She asked her bestfriend who kept her head down. Tifa shook her head.

"What can I do about it? It's not like I have the power to kick her out of here, you know..." She said with a sigh. Then she ruffled her hair in frustration while she groaned. "I can't believe I'm thinking about things like this!"

"You don't have the power, but you have the capacity to literally kick her ass out of here." Yuffie said with a big grin. Tifa gave her a disbelieving look.

"I'm not that kind of person. Besides, she had been nice to me..."

"Just an act, I could tell."

"But still..."

"Are you seriously defending her right now?" Yuffie asked, already irritated. Tifa sighed again.

"I... Don't know what to think..."

"Just keep an eye on your man." Yuffie said with another bite of her cookie.

"I know... I trust Noctis, I know he would not do anything to hurt me, I believe in him."

"I know pancake, he's not that kind of person, I hope." Yuffie said then gave her bestfriend a sheepish grin when Tifa glared at her.

"Just believe in him too, will you?"

"I was just kidding!" Yuffie said then smacked Tifa's shoulder which made the brunette wince.

"Good." Tifa said with a smirk while she rubbed her shoulder.

"What about the great Cloud Strife?" Yuffie suddenly asked which earned her a raised eyebrow.

"What about him?"

"Is he still pestering you?"

"No... The last time he talked to me was during the trip."

"What did he tell you?"

"He asked me if I slept with Noctis and he got pissed when I said yes..." Tifa said with another sigh which made Yuffie scoff.

"Who does he think he is? Just because you slept with him once you suddenly belonged to him." Yuffie said with an annoyed expression while Tifa kept head down.

"I don't know anymore... I just ignore him when I see him. He has been avoiding me too, recently."

"Don't you think that's a good thing?" Yuffie asked.

"Yeah... I guess..." Tifa said with a small smile without it reaching her eyes.

Hidden away in the back of the building near the bench that Tifa and Yuffie were occupying was a blond haired girl leaning on the wall.

The next day, as Tifa was walking along the school grounds, girls had been whispering and glaring at her direction, she did her best to ignore them all, she understood that Noctis had harbored a lot of obsessed fangirls and maybe that was why they were acting like that, but she knew there was something more she didn't know about, and her thoughts were about to be proven right.

"Oh, it's the little whore." A girl with short brown her from her left suddenly said. Tifa hastily turned her head to face the girl with her brows furrowed.

"Are you referring to me?" Tifa asked.

"Who else is the whore around here?"

"Why are you saying those things to me?" Tifa inquired while she approached the girl, the said girl was suddenly surrounded by friends and were all glaring at Tifa.

"Because you already have Noctis by your side, everybody wants him and you were lucky enough to have him, but still, you fuck someone else and cheat on him." She said as a matter of factly, Tifa's eyes widened at her statement.

"What? I never cheated on my boyfriend!"

"You like to collect handsome guys, do you? I heard it was Cloud Strife, and the fact that he has a fiance makes you even worse than you already are." The girl said again with her arms crossed. Tifa's breath hitched and was totally speechless. "Well?"

"That's... Where... Did you all hear that? Why would you say that I'm cheating on Noctis, you don't even know me!" Tifa was on the verge of tears but held it in with all her might, she will not let these girls have the satisfaction of seeing her weak and crying.

"Everyone knows about it."

"Everyone...?" Tifa gasped. Noctis! She immediately turned around and started running while she fished out her phone to dial her boyfriend's number. It rang four times before he answered it.

"Tifa..." Tifa knew that there was already something wrong when he didn't call her princess.

"Noctis, I need to talk to you right now." She said breathlessly while she ran. "Meet me in the back building on the east now." She said, her boyfriend didn't speak for a few seconds before he responded.

"...Okay." Then there was a click. It was then that Tifa's tears all spilled out uncontrollably.

Noctis had believed the rumors.

When she arrived on their meeting place Noctis was already there, leaning on his back on the wall with a solemn expression. Tifa ran faster to him and stopped in front him while she caught her breath. Noctis looked up at her but didn't say anything.

"Did you hear about it?" Tifa asked immediately, Noctis looked down and nodded his head. "And you believe them?"

"I... I don't know..." He said quietly, Tifa's eyes widened and was deeply hurt.

"What do you mean you don't know? How could you think that I could do that to you?!" Tifa was frantic. Noctis didn't respond. "Please, you have to believe me, I never cheated on you!" Tifa started sobbing, it was already difficult to breath.

"Did you really sleep with him?" Noctis asked. Tifa opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't. But she knew he needed the truth.

"I... Did... I-" Noctis suddenly pushed up from the wall.

"That's all I need to hear." Then he turned to walk away.

"But it happened once and that was before we even met!" Tifa tried to explain but he didn't listen and kept walking away. "NOCTIS!" Tifa yelled on top of her lungs but he was already gone. She started sobbing again while breathing heavily, she clutched her chest while she shook all over, it was too painful to take in all at once.

"Tifa?" A male voice called her from behind her which made her close her eyes, she hastily turned around to face the guy with blond hair and blue eyes, whose face was full of concern. "Tifa..."

"What? What do you want?! WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" Cloud was in shock of Tifa's outburst and it made him speechless. But he knew why she was acting up like that, he had heard about the rumors as well but he didn't have any idea how to ease up the situation. He was sure that Aerith had heard about it too but he didn't have the chance to face her yet, the last thing he needed right now was the wedding getting called off, his mother needed him.

"I... Tifa..."

"JUST GO AWAY! GO AWAY!" She yelled before she started running away while sobbing heavily.

"Tifa!" Cloud decided to follow her, everyone were turning their heads towards them as they both ran on the grounds, with Tifa crying loudly and Cloud calling out to her.

"Noctis!" Prompto shook Noctis by the shoulder as soon as he witnessed Tifa running away with Cloud going after her. His eyes hardened, he wanted to go after them but decided not to. "Noctis?" Prompto called him but he didn't say anything, that's when they heard the loud sound of screeching tires and screams of horror filled the air, Noctis' face turned to shock when he heard Cloud yell Tifa's name on top of his lungs.