As the door to Rufus' cell closed behind Tseng, his heart was still beating hard in his chest and his lips were tingling. He knew that he was no more than a pawn to Rufus Shinra, who needed an ally on the outside to reach his goals. But being told that to his face made it impossible to quell the urges inside of him. This time, it had been him who moved in for the kiss, and Rufus had returned it hungrily. Tseng had forced himself to break away and leave despite wanting to stay. Rufus was the master he had been looking for. He had a will of steel, paired with the patience of a Midgar Zolom that laid waiting for unwitting prey to come near it and strike when it was the least suspected.
Unwitting, Tseng was not. Willing to be wrapped up in that snacke's schemes, he very much was. He had been looking forward to the Wutai mission even before talking to Rufus, but now he was even more excited. Though the hope for peace with Wutai had all but disappeared from his mind. The trip was going to be a new declaration of war with a delay. And this time, Rufus would be the one to declare it. And the enemy was not Wutai. A shiver of pleasure went through Tseng's body. He had never expected he would find his loyalty to the company be tested in this manner. He wondered if Chief Veld had ever found himself in a similar predicament and how the founder of Shinra Electric had secured his loyalty.
As for Veld himself, he seemed to have strayed from that side at least for a time when he chose to cover for Rufus' conspiracy with Avalanche, but Tseng still had to wonder what his reasons for doing so had been. He had already paid the price, having been temporarily replaced by Tseng and then reinstated after he proved his loyalty to the president, but that was not the end of Chief Veld's case.
Tseng glanced over to the camera in the corner of his room. He was certain that Rufus was watching him again. But it did not matter. The vice-president had seen through him so thoroughly that he had nothing to hide at this point.
His phone beeped and tore him out of his thoughts. Hesitantly, he reached for it and pulled it out. It was a short message from Zack telling him that he had tried to get in contact with Sephiroth, but he had not gotten back to him. And that he was going out for dinner with Aerith tonight. "Good for him", Tseng thought to himself as he pushed himself off the door and walked over to his desk. And he meant it. Thinking about Aerith still hurt, but while he loved the hypothetical idea of taking her out to dinner himself, the reality was that he would not enjoy such a date. What Rufus had proposed to him earlier was much closer to his idea of a fun "date". Compatibility was the most important thing in any relationship after all.
He sat down and tried calling Sephiroth. The phone tooted several times, but he did not pick up. He was probably resting after being exposed to a high dose of mako. They would need him in a few days to guard Rufus during the Wutai mission, but until then, Tseng hoped that he could just take it easy. He wrote to Zack to try getting in touch with Sephiroth again tonight and to enjoy his evening until then.