As Aerith closed her phone and turned toward him again, Tseng could feel her gaze piercing his very soul. "If that's all, could you please leave?", she asked. After all this time, disdain was still the only thing she had for him.
He lowered his eyes. He remembered so well the day had walked in through this very door and, despite being only a rookie and far, far from what he was now, he had given his best shot to try and intimidate the little girl that had run away from Hojo's research lab. Yet, she had never shown any fear. Not even once, and not even when she was still this tiny little girl who had just been taken in by the total stranger she now called her mother.
"No pie for me, then?", he joked as he tried to fake a smile. She turned away from him and put her phone in her dress pocket. "Please leave", she demanded. He closed his eyes and the fake smile made way for an honest expression of relief. She was treating him as usual and this gave him peace beyond his own expectation.
Yes. She would not change her mind about him just because he asked her to help a common acquaintance. What was he thinking? He opened his eyes and looked at her back that was covered by lush auburn hair tied together by a pink ribbon from the corner of his eyes.
As he had made his way to Aerith's house to ask her to call Zack to pull him out of his misery, he could not help but imagine every possible outcome of this interaction. Including some where she would finally recognize the good in him and they would proceed to spend a pleasant rest of the day together. He hated himself for having fantasies about a 17-year-old girl, but her flat-out rejections that were as predictable as President Shinra's foul moods were what kept him rooted in reality. He sighed and turned to leave as she turned around and faced him again.
His heart skipped a beat and he stopped in his tracks as she spoke: "What will happen to him?" He hesitated before he replied: "Time will tell." He finally stepped outside without waiting for another word and closed the door hastily. He leaned against the wall of Aerith's house, exhaling deeply, and loosened his tie. He did not normally come to Aerith's house anymore. He was usually able to push any jobs related to her on other Turk members, and he knew that note of his behavior had already been taken by his superiors a while ago, and he supposed that the reason was known to them. He was probably being watched even now because Aerith's house was under constant surveillance for her own safety.
So far, he had not faced any consequences. But today, he had acted on his own judgement. He had notified Aerith that Zack had gone through a very traumatic event during today's mission (without revealing any specifics) and asked her to help distract him. He was certain that Zack would get over the loss of Angeal and would emerge from it stronger. But they needed him back in service as quickly as possible. There were things only people who were close to him could do. Although Tseng and Zack had gotten to know each other over the course of the past several months and were getting along reasonably well for their professional intents and purposes, Tseng considered only very, very few of his colleagues as close enough to call them friends. One might also say that Tseng simply did not have any friends, and not even Zack was not one of them, although Zack probably saw it differently.
He straightened out his suit and fastened his tie again. He was certain that he had made the right decision in asking Aerith for help in the grand scheme of things. But talking to her still made him uncomfortable and on a personal level he still wondered if there might not have been a better choice. Finally walking away from Aerith's house, he reached for his phone and checked his schedule. He did not know why he was checking it. It was just a habit, or maybe he needed to reassure himself that he would not be missed for the next 1-2 hours. He was scheduled for all the rest of the day to be at Modeoheim, but despite returning much earlier than planned, he had no other assignments lined up.
This day had been really stressful, but he had already completed most of the immediately required actions after returning from the mission, so he would not be missed for 1-2 hours. Instead of returning to Shinra Headquarters immediately, he directed his steps toward Sector 6.