CHAPTER 8
Just as Yuffie and everyone thought, the plan worked out well. At least, Cloud wasn't running around wild and caused other people trouble. Tifa was the best chaperon for Cloud.
Yuffie was expecting for a problem during their long flight to Gold Saucer and shockingly, there wasn't any. Cloud didn't fight with Zack and he stayed in his seat obediently. Of course, he was seated next to his chaperon and she was obviously controlling him without him realizing it.
"Come on Tifa, just this once," Cloud begged her to let him get up from his seat. He told her he wanted to go to the toilet but she knew it was all his excuse. He just wanted to get up from his seat.
She would allow him if only he didn't have motion sickness. Just like Yuffie who just sit silently next to Vincent who was reading. "No can do," Tifa simply said and it irritated him.
Cloud pushed the button to call the stewardess. "What are you doing?" Tifa turned to him. "I'm going to ask her to bring me a bottle," he replied in an easy manner way. "Bottle?"
"If you're not going to let me go to the toilet, I'll just pee here," he said as the stewardess arrived at their seats. "Yes, can I help you Mr. Strife?" Tifa thought he was joking and he definitely wouldn't dare.
"Yeah, can you get me a bottle?" he asked sweetly. The stewardess was confused. "Bottle? And what kind of bottle do you need?"
"You know the one where I can p…" Tifa quickly covered his mouth with her hand and stopped his from finishing his sentence. "Can I have some tissue please? He spilled some water on himself," Tifa said and the stewardess just nodded and walked away.
Tifa felt Cloud smiled beneath her hand. "Fine, go to the toilet," she gave up as she removed her hand from his mouth. "Thank you," he said as he gave a quick kiss on Tifa's palm playfully which Tifa responded with a disgusting grunt.
Cloud unbuckled his seat belt and went to the toilet direction in a childlike manner. He won against Tifa this time. Yuffie turned slightly to her. She just made a face, "He wants to pee."
The stewardess came with some tissues and gave it to Tifa. "Thank you."
After the stewardess had gone, another one came and talked to Zack. "Excuse me Mr. Zack; Mr. Cloud is having a problem in the toilet. He called for you," she said and Zack turned to Tifa. Tifa shook her head.
Zack went to the toilet and after a while, he came out with a sick-looking Cloud with the help of a steward. "He's having motion sickness," the steward said as they placed Cloud back on his seat.
Cloud felt like his whole world was spinning and he was glad when he was on his seat back. He knew he was being punished for lying to Tifa just now.
"Do you have anything for motion sickness?" Tifa asked the steward and he nodded before he went to the back. Cloud held his stomach and he got a very uncomfortable look on his face.
"I don't feel so good," he said in a low voice and Tifa rubbed his back. "Hold on a little while. The steward is taking some medicine," Tifa said softly though she felt like laughing. She knew this was going to happen in the first place.
"I don't think I can. I'm going to puke," he said as he held his stomach tighter. Tifa quickly took out the vomiting bag from her seat and opened it just in time before Cloud threw up. He held the bag as he emptied his stomach into the bag. Zack made a disgusting face and decided to retreat to his seat after seeing that Tifa got everything under control.
Cloud gagged a few more time before he felt he got nothing left in his gut to puke out anymore. "There you go, you'll feel better," Tifa comforted him. Cloud lied back and let himself calmed down. Tifa cleaned his face with the tissue she got from the stewardess and bit back her lower lip trying to contain her laughter.
Out of the blue, she heard Vincent's voice, "Watch it Yuffie!" And there was a sound of a girl throwing up. Tifa saw Vincent shoved the bag to Yuffie just in time as Yuffie threw up too. That was when Tifa reached her limit and broke out into laughter.
She had to cover her mouth and managed to contain her laughter back into just giggles. A few people smiled at her reaction. Zack and Cid just shook their heads. The steward came and gave her the medicine for Cloud before giving some to Yuffie.
"Here you go," Tifa said to Cloud who took the medicine on his palm. He opened his eyes slightly and took the pills and washed them down with a glass of water. "Hey Tifa," he called. Tifa placed his glass on the tray and turned to him.
"Yeah?" she replied. "Do you know that you're evil?" he asked and all he got back was more laughter from the girl. "Yep. I knew it already."
Cloud just lied back once again and closed his eyes, waiting for his torture to end. It wasn't long before he fell asleep.
XXX
In the silent airplane, almost everyone was asleep. Only the crew of the flight didn't and after making sure everyone was comfortable, they went to rest for a while at the back.
One passenger who had been listening to the small commotion rose from his seat and took out something from his bag. He turned and saw the passenger behind him, both already asleep. He smiled to himself.
The brunette girl was sleeping soundly, her head turned slightly to her left with some of her hair covering her face while the blonde guy's head was rested on the girl's shoulder. Both didn't seem to realize it and he smiled to himself. He placed his camera in front of his eyes snapped a few pictures of the two.
He turned to another passenger and snapped their pictures too. "Manager isn't supposed to have relationship with the people she managed," he murmured and smiled to himself.
Working for a tabloid was hard but once he got the front page, he got paid big Gils and all of his hard works would be paid off. He returned to his seat and closed his eyes in satisfaction.
He got a hunch that there would be a lot more once they reached the Gold Saucer.
XXX
They reached the Gold Saucer in the evening and after checking in the hotel, Yuffie called everyone to brief them about the plan for tomorrow's performance.
"The sound check will be done in the morning at 9. Be punctual and Cid, don't oversleep again," Yuffie ended. "So, tonight, have a good rest and no partying! And especially a NO if anyone of you wanted to go to the entertainment park. Not until we finished the performance," she said in a serious tone and landed her eyes on Cloud.
Cloud made an innocent look and Yuffie decided to drop the matter. Her neck was aching from the long flight just now.
"Until tomorrow," she said and retreated to her room. Everyone went to their own room, feeling tired though they had some sleeps on the flight.
XXX
After taking a bath, Tifa turned on the TV and flipped through the channel. "Isn't there anything interesting on TV?"
She rested herself on the soft bed and wondered if Marlene and Denzel were doing alright. She tried to call Barret but he didn't answer. Maybe they were asleep.
Tifa flipped through the channel once again and stopped at a channel showing a movie.
Then, she heard the door bell. She looked at her watch, "It's almost 9 pm." Tifa went to the door and peeped through the peeping hole. It was covered so that she couldn't see the person who rang the bell. She immediately knew who it was.
"What do you want Cloud?" she asked without bothering to open the door. "Ah, found out already!" she heard he said. She smiled to herself.
"Come on. Let's go out and play. I can't sleep with all the noise, I can hear it from my room," Cloud said. Tifa opened the door. "You heard what Yuffie said. No I deny you request," Tifa stated firmly.
"You actually are going to listen to her? Come on, we're going to miss all the fun if we just stay in our room," Cloud didn't want to give up. Tifa still refused.
"Well then, I'm going whether you are coming with me or not. You're not much of a chaperon anyway," Cloud commented and Tifa felt infuriated. She murmured under her breath as Cloud walked away from her room.
"He's going to dash off to somewhere again and create a scene!" Tifa said as she pulled out a cap from her luggage and grabbed her room access card before following the blonde who just entered the elevator.
As the elevator was about to close, a hand stopped it just in time and Cloud saw Tifa entered it while catching her breath. "Just behave tonight," she said and Cloud grinned in a child-like manner.
Tifa stood beside him and gave him the cap. He took it but slowly. "Put it on. With hair as yours, everyone can recognize you from a mile away," she said and Cloud put it on without any question.
Then, the elevator stopped and a few more people got in. They all stopped at the floor where the amusement park was located and Tifa just followed Cloud from the back.
'I better make sure Yuffie doesn't know about this or I'll be in serious problem,' Tifa thought to herself. "I feel like eating an ice-cream, do you want some?" he asked but didn't wait for her answer. Instead, he dashed off to the ice-cream vendor.
Tifa followed him quickly and when she arrived, he handed her an ice-cream and paid the vendor. "Excuse me, are you Cloud from AVALANCHE?" the vendor asked. Cloud looked at her intently. "Do I look like him that much? I always get that everywhere I go," Cloud pretended. The girl just nodded.
"Do you want my signature?" Cloud teased the girl. "Nah, it's not like you're him," the girl passed the opportunity and Cloud walked away from her. Tifa just ate her ice-cream and shook her head before she followed Cloud.
"Hurry up Tifa! You're so slow," he called from afar at the entrance of the amusement park. Tifa looked at the park and she was stunned. She saw a figure which had caused her so much misery before.
"Don Corneo," she whispered to herself and as if the man heard her, he looked at her direction. He slowly made his way to her. 'Walk away! Walk away!' Tifa felt her heart beat faster. Not because she was excited to see him but she suddenly remembered their last encounter.
'Run Tifa, run!' But her legs didn't move and she felt herself shaking; out of anger and fear. "Well, well. I didn't expect to see you here," he said as he stopped in front of Tifa with a woman clinging on to him.
"You know her?" the woman asked as she looked at Tifa who still refused to lay an eye on them. "Sorry girl, but I just found someone else to accompany me tonight," Don Corneo pushed the woman away from him and stepped closer to Tifa.
"What?" the woman raised her brows in disbelief. Tifa felt like screaming but her voice wouldn't want to come out and her heart was racing. She drew back her breath. She knew the best way was to run away from this animal but why was she still here.
"Come on, we have a lot to catch up since the last time we met," Don Corneo said as he reached out to pull Tifa to him. "Don't touch me," Tifa's voice cracked out. She was panting in nervousness and fear.
"What? Did you say something?" Don Corneo came closer and on the perfect timing, Tifa felt she was pulled back from behind and stopped as she landed on another body.
She looked at hand around her waist and turned slightly. "Where'd you go baby?" the familiar yet weird way of talking greeted her. Don Corneo eyed the man with the cap who interrupted him.
The man stood forward. "Who are you?" Don Corneo asked. Cloud looked at the shorter man before him but still didn't remove his hand from Tifa's waist. "I'm her boyfriend apparently. Why do you care?" Cloud said before he turned to Tifa.
"Did he try to do anything to you?" Cloud looked into Tifa's eyes in concern. He knew Tifa's fear of being around this man. Tifa shook her head slowly. "No, I don't even know him," her voice was low but both men heard her.
"Good. Ah, you're ice-cream is melting," Cloud said as he licked the melted ice-cream on her hand. Tifa's face twitched at that but he just acted casually. "Come on; let's go back to our room. I don't feel like playing anymore," Cloud noticed Tifa's cold hands and shivering.
Tifa didn't reply but she followed him without protesting. Cloud pulled her closer to him and walked away feeling pissed that they had to meet that short old fart to ruin their plan. "You okay?" he asked Tifa.
"Yeah, I don't know what came over me," Tifa said, feeling a little uncomfortable with the little distance between them. It felt like everyone was watching them. "Eat up your ice-cream. It's melting," Cloud said. He dropped his ice-cream when he saw Don Corneo closing in to Tifa just now.
"No way. You just ate it. It's disgusting," Tifa refused as she made a disgusting look on her face. "Suite yourself. Let me eat it. I dropped mine just now when I saw a dog cornering a cat just now," Cloud said as he ate the ice-cream from her hand.
"You hold it yourself. I'm not holding it for you," Tifa shoved the ice-cream to him. "Yeah, hold it right there," Cloud held her hand so that he could eat more of the ice-cream. "I said hold it yourself," Tifa repeated herself.
"No, I don't want to. My hands will be sticky. Yours are already sticky," Cloud ignored her and ate up all the ice-cream while Tifa holding it. Tifa felt awkward but there was something in her that felt happy at that moment.
"That guy looked familiar," Don Corneo said as he watched them from their backs.
"He looked like the AVALANCHE singer," the woman he dumped just now followed the blonde man's track with her eyes. "And she's clever she chose that man than you," the woman said before leaving Don Corneo.
"No wait, I was joking just now!" Don Corneo called after the woman who just dismissed him like a fly and continued to walk away.