Chapter Nine:

It's been two weeks already.

Tifa smiled at herself as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. How odd was it that she was counting her days in seclusion? She was definitely not bored, oh no, she wasn't. She had visited the local farmers a few days ago and wished that she had brought along her camera. The camera was at home, in a shelf, or on a table top, she didn't remember. The scenery was so different here, it felt like it was her own piece of heaven.

As she sat under an old tree, she glanced at the afternoon sun and remembered Cloud.

How was he?

She wished that she was here with him, and then they could talk about completely random things like why she liked pepperoni pizza. She missed Cloud and their easy conversations.

Yes, Marlene was easy to talk to, but the young girl was too curious about her lifestyle than she would have wanted. Yesterday, they were talking about Genesis. Marlene adored Genesis and she hoped for them both to get married and have lots and lots of kids soon!

"Your babies are going to be the prettiest babies in the whole wide Planet!" the girl exclaimed.

Tifa had smiled at Marlene and said nothing. She didn't want to say that if ever she married Genesis, she would end her career for good and ask him to do the same. Telling a fan about sensitive topics like this was crucial and dangerous. Tifa could lose Marlene, and Marlene could spread it out. Count on gossip tabloids to spread it like wild fire.

Today, she had nothing planned at all.

Her sketchpad already contained three sketches of gowns. She had decided that she would use the woven cloths from the village. This place needed more exposure! Tifa felt relatively content with her accomplishments so far.

As she walked down the stairs, the innkeeper met her.

"Good morning," Tifa said.

"Good morning," the innkeeper said. "Marlene dropped by a little while ago asking for you."

"She did?" Tifa asked. "Wow, she got up early!"

The innkeeper smiled and nodded. "Yes, she did. She asked me to tell you to head to your hiding place. I suppose that that place is your secret hide out with Marlene?"

Tifa couldn't help but laugh. "You could say that. Um, I'll be off then."

The elderly woman nodded and went back to cleaning the already spotless inn. When Tifa arrived in their spot, Tifa saw Marlene sitting there, nibbling on a piece of toast. The girl was staring into the horizon.

"Good morning Marlene." Tifa said with a smile.

Marlene turned to look at Tifa and said, "Why did you really come here?"

Tifa looked at the little girl and sat down beside her. "I came here because I felt suffocated with my work, my life—everything. I just wanted to take a break from it all for a while…Why did you ask so suddenly?" Her heart started to pound nervously.

"Mmm, well, I was watching TV last night and you were a gossip show. Your manager was talking about you, and your boyfriend was also in the show." Marlene frowned.

"Oh?" Tifa swallowed. She shouldn't be so affected. She and Genesis were always on gossip talk shows. They could have been the poster couple of those trashy shows. But… what the hell was Rufus doing in a gossip show? "What was it about?"

"Your manager was talking about you. He said really mean things about you, like, you never liked the attention that's why you ran away. Is he telling the truth?" Marlene looked into Tifa's eyes. "Do you hate being famous?"

Her throat went dry. Yes, she did not appreciate all the attention that the media gave her. They often invaded her privacy. Her privacy and Genesis'… but Genesis never seemed to mind, did he? He liked the attention. He was such an attention whore. The paparazzi loved him for it. Getting designer duds were great and getting a hundred thousand gil a show/shoot was awesome—those were the good perks of fame. She liked those perks, sure. Everybody did. But you could never trust anybody in this industry. Even, as it now seems, your manager.

"I don't hate being famous entirely, Marlene. I just hate some things about it." Tifa said. "I mean, how would you like it if somebody suddenly knocks on your door so early in the morning asking for an autograph… a kiss?"

Marlene made a face and Tifa nodded. "You know, Genesis and I actually planned to get married in secret. I was going to use his private jet to get where he was. So what's this about Genesis, Marlene?"

There was a pause. Marlene did not speak for a moment; she only chewed her bottom lip, as if she was wary.

"Come on, Marlene, it's only a rumor, isn't it? What is it?" she asked.

"It's not a rumor, in my opinion though, Tifa." Marlene mumbled. "There was a video."

"A video?" Tifa felt really uneasy now.

Marlene nodded. "Genesis was driving in his new sports car in uh, I forgot where, sorry—and your co-star in Immortal was sitting in the passenger seat. They were both trying to avoid the media,"

Tifa's heart skipped a beat. "What!" Genesis was with another girl, was he? She swallowed and tasted bile. But… what if, they just ran into each other and being the show off that Genesis is, he decided to take her out for a ride in his brand new car? Genesis could not possibly do this to her! They've been together for three years! Cissnei would never pass up an opportunity to get her claws on everything Tifa had—she was like a copycat. Did she want Genesis too?

Who wouldn't want Genesis?

"Tifa? Are you alright?" Marlene broke her reverie.

"Oh, yeah. I am." Tifa blinked back the tears.

Marlene shuffled her feet on the ground and said, "They're mean. Just because you went away, they started to show their bad sides. I don't like them."

"Maybe running away was a good idea after all then," Tifa said, "now I know who I can trust and who I can't… shouldn't have. See? Who wouldn't hate being famous when everybody just wants to be with you for publicity and profit?" She looked at the little girl and bit her lip. "When I get back, the first thing I'm going to do is fire my manager and get a new one. I'm going to fire him and his brother. I'm tired of being bossed around. Then, I'm breaking up with Genesis."

She felt unusual. She felt calm, at peace, as if everything was alright. She was breaking up with her long-time boyfriend and firing the men responsible for her fame—that was something she should be crying about, shouldn't it? Maybe… she had seen this coming a long time ago, she had just not really cared to acknowledge it. Had she really loved Genesis? Or had she been blinded by his gorgeous face and body, enticed by his sickly sweet words and seductive voice? Did she know what love was? Was the love that they shared just for the public? A show?

Goddess.

"You know Marlene, I think I want to visit my friend back in the city." Tifa finally said.

"A friend?"

"Yes," Tifa smiled. "I think… I hope… he hasn't turned his back on me as well."

Marlene stood up and looked at Tifa, "You're leaving?"

"I promise I will be back, kiddo. Don't worry." Tifa smiled. Marlene smiled tentatively. "If you want, I'll even leave my sketchpad with you."

"Really?" Marlene's face lit up at once.

Tifa nodded. "I just need to talk to him really."

"I want to come with you!" Marlene pleaded.

She scratched her head. "I don't think that your parents will agree. I mean, I'm just a visitor in your town, Marlene."

The little girl pouted. "My parents are already dead, Tifa, but my uncle is taking care of me. I call him Daddy, though, and I am positive that he's going to let me go!"

Tifa chewed her lip. "Well," she sighed, "we could give it a try."

"Yay!" Marlene jumped and grabbed Tifa's hand. "C'mon, let's go to Daddy's working site!"

It did not take long for Barret to let Marlene go. "Just take good care of my little girl, okay? If she gets hurt in anyway-"

"Oh Daddy! Jessica's not going to hurt me! She's not a bad person." Marlene interjected.

Barret only smiled and nodded. "I trust your judgement, doll. Uh, Jessica, when are you coming back?"

Tifa smiled back. "Probably tomorrow."

"Tomorrow. What time?"

"Hm, I'm not sure."

"Alright, dare not to be back tomorrow and you're in trouble Miss Lockes, ya understand?"

Tifa nodded. She accompanied Marlene with packing her backpack with overnight clothes and then she packed her things up as well. It was funny- she was going to show up in the pizza parlor and surprise Cloud. That was new.

Author's Note: Waa~ hi reader! Thanks for reading this. I know it's been a long time since I last updated and I'm sorry. Anyway, how did find this update? Tell me how horrible it is in your Review! xD

-Victoria Chrystallis