Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8 or any of it's characters…if I did then I would be on a private island sipping an erotic drink with millions of bucks! Tee-Hee! : )
Chapter TenRinoa had a hard time concentrating on her task of looking happy for the photos as the cameras continued to click every few seconds. Thoughts of Squall and the scene that had happened in the diner flooded her mind like a tsunami. Amall was quiet in the corner, she always was, but Rinoa could tell that she was wondering about what had happened earlier too. Galan seemed to have noticed the strange behavior in Rinoa and confronted her while they were taking a break to reload film and change clothing.
"What's wrong, Rin? You seem troubled," His voice was soft and concerned, but yet there still was the partying tone to it. Rinoa looked at him from the top of the wall that was set up so that she could change, and laughed and smiled at his dark eyes. The smile may have convinced the cameras and the paparazzi and all of the fans, but someone who knew Rinoa's emotions knew that she was hiding something. "I know there is something wrong. Don't use that face, it doesn't work with me."
"Nothing is wrong, Galan, I am just tired from last night," Rinoa said, her head disappearing behind the wall again. She knew that Galan would never believe her, but she could not let him know about Squall. She could not let him know about her past and why Amall even existed. Though they had known each other for a long time, he had never question Amall's existence or about where she was before they had started their careers.
"Rinoa, who was that at the Lighthouse last night? You seemed to know him well," Galan said, changing the subject, or so he thought. He heard a loud thud from behind the wall and heard Rinoa curse. Galan stared at the green wall and sighed. So he had hit a nerve, and from the sound of the thud, it was a big nerve. There was a long pause before Galan started to worry about her. But before he could ask there was another curse out of Rinoa just before she walked out from behind the wall and towards Galan.
"No one that really matters anymore," Rinoa said shaking her head. Galan looked at her like slyly before the camera crew called them back to the set. They did not talk through the rest of the shooting because every time Galan tried to get something out of her about the guy at the bar, Rinoa would just tell him that he was nobody important. There was something about the way Rinoa shut him off like so easily that bothered Galan.
As they left the building around dusk, Rinoa held onto Amall like she was about to be taken away from her. Galan had never seen her so cautious about walking outside with her daughter before, it worried him. He walked alongside the mother and daughter for the short distance to the Timber hotel before he finally spoke up about what had been concerning him all day.
"Rin, will you tell me who that was, please," His voice was delicate and sincere, but still, the young singer was reluctant to answer him. She looked at her daughter before she asked her to go into their hotel room. After Amall went into the room Rinoa just stared at Galan for a moment before she finally made any movements. She pointed to his room from across the hall and walked inside of it.
Once they were both seated across from each other with a tan table in between them, Rinoa's eyes started to get wet. She looked at the floor before her just before she turned back to him and sighed. There were not any other noises from the two singers for a long time before Rinoa finally spoke up.
"I met him three weeks after my seventeenth birthday, it was at the graduation party for the SeeDs at Balamb Garden. I was there to ask the Headmaster for some help, I never thought that I would meet anyone there… I already had a boyfriend that I thought that I loved. Well, I forced him to dance, not expecting that I would ever see him again," Tears ran down her pale cheeks as the memories ran through her eyes. "He was the leader of the SeeDs that came to help me. We could not stand each other at first, he was too cold for my liking and I was to loose for him. But that soon changed, we would risk our lives to save one another. Love, that is what you could call it, love. After about two months we got engaged, we were never happier… But all of that changed about a week after I agreed to marry him…," Rinoa's tears forced her to stop telling their story and take a minute to sob.
Galan watched his cousin cry in her hands, he himself dying a little on the inside. He had never been able to stand it when she would cry as a child, and he still, as a grown man, it killed him. He loved her too much to let her be this sad, but there was one question that haunted his mind now that she had told him part of her past. "Did you find out that he was cheating on you, and then he left you after you confronted him about it?" Rinoa's head shot up and when she faced Galan, her eyes were alert and shocked by the fact that he would even consider this.
"Hell no! No, no, no, no, no! Squall would never have cheated or left me, he loved me too much to do that. I-I…I was the one that left him," the confession was just barely above a whisper, but it was still heard by the man that sat next to her. Each second that passed was in complete silence, nothing made a noise other than the sound of people in the room next to Galan's. Rinoa's tears continued to flow down her cheeks silently as they sat there staring at nothing.
When someone finally made any movements it was Rinoa heading for the door to leave Galan to his thoughts. As she turned the knob, she paused before she turned around and said one more thing, "If you want to know the whole story, contact a woman at Balamb Garden by the name of Trepe. Ask her for a copy of her book," And with those words, the young woman was gone. Galan stared at the shut door, thinking about why she left him and why she wanted him to contact a 'Trepe.' Why couldn't she just tell him the story between them?
Galan walked over to his overstuffed bed and lied down on the soft blue sheets. Rinoa was acting so strange, and it worried Galan. She had never been able to control her actions when she was sad like this, and God only knows what she would do to herself because of all of the things that had been happening to her. Thoughts of Rinoa and her confession ran through his head until sleep overcame the young man. Still, in his dreams, haunting memories of what Rinoa had done to herself.
Galan awoke to the sound of someone rapidly pounding on his door. He groaned as he turned over to look at the clock that sat on his stark white nightstand and groaned once more as he read the time. Whoever was banging on his door at two-thirty in the morning better have something important to tell him. Galan sat in the bed for a few more moments before Rinoa's petrified cry came from the other side of the door.
"Galan, please open up!" Her voice was full of worry and sorrow. Galan was out of the bed and opening the door by the end of her sentence. When he saw Rinoa's whole body shaking, his tan face went pale. Tears continued to run from her dark brown eyes and her head continued to look from one side of the hallway to the other.
"What's wrong, Rinny?" Galan asked setting a hand on her shoulder and pushing her inside his room before people walked out of their rooms to see what was going on. Once inside, Rinoa paced the length of the room as tears continued to flow and her body trembled with fear. She did not look at Galan; she only paced the small room.
"Rinoa, what is wrong?" He asked once more, this time taking her hands in his causing her to stop and face him. Her eyes contained fear, a fear that would not easily vanish. She took a few more deep breaths before she quietly whispered into Galan's ear.
"Amall…Amall is gone," And with those words, the young mother fell unconscious from her panicking. All Galan could do was hold the silent body and look at her face in disbelief.
AN: Sorry
that it took so long to update, I just have been stuck on what I was
going to in this chapter. I apologize for making you all wait so
long.
Thanks for all of the reviews, and keep reviewing!
Until next time,
Jo Pina Colada Tookey Shokisa Never Leave the Windows Open At Night
