Chapter Twenty-two: Confessions of the Star

TIFA LOCKHART IS BACK and she's returning with a vengeance. After a month of vanishing from the public eye, Tifa sits down with VOGUE's Anna Winter for her first, exclusive interview after her reclusion.

"I've thought of going away from the public eye for a long time. I discussed it with Genesis, but he didn't really support my idea, so did my staff. They told me that I was on the top of my game, I couldn't just throw all of it away. But I was willing to. I felt like I was losing myself in all this glitz and glamour." Tifa says. "But I'm glad I followed what I wanted, because now that I'm back, I've got my goals in place. I've screwed up a lot of times, but I don't want the fear of failing hold me back."

Tifa Lockhart got her big break when she starred in 'New Day', when she was only 15. Since then, her star began to shine very brightly, and now, at 22, she is now recognized as one of the sexiest ladies in the Planet and has earned various awards for her work. "Most people do not really know why I suddenly lined up at the auditions for New Day," she says. "I was 15, and the other girls looked more polished than I was. I never had an acting lesson in my life. My mother was ill. I guess she was the only thing that strengthened my drive to winning." Tifa Lockhart's staff has always been the same, since she was fifteen. The same driver takes her to wherever she needs to be, the same stylists fix her up before she faces the world.

She won her first Meteor award when she was nineteen, and there, she met her ex-boyfriend, Genesis. "I honestly believed that we were heading to the altar too," she says with a little laugh. "but we never did. One of the hardest decisions you will ever have to make is whether to stay and try harder—I mean, I could have forgiven him and hoped that he wouldn't do it again. Or to take your memories and walk away. It really hurt when I found out that he was cheating on me, and I wondered about our relationship. No matter how much I wanted to keep him with me, fidelity was something I held sacred. I'm not going to smile and tell you that we'll remain good friends, because I'm not a liar."

"Right now, I think I'm going to enjoy being single for a while. But if I do fall in love again, I'd like to fall in love with a man who doesn't value publicity and fame much. With someone who would rather chose to go motorcycling out of town than attending parties. Somebody who'd always be there when I need him, not just when he wants to be with me." When asked about settling down, Tifa laughs. "I'm single right now, but I do want to get married and have a kid. Note, a kid. Just one."

Her fashion line with XY fashion house is one of the things her fans are all clamoring about. Prior to the magazine's shoot, the world finally got a glimpse of Tifa's designs. The site for her line reportedly had to hold off some reservation orders. "Heart Locker is the main result of my reclusion," she confides. "Before I decided to drive out of town, my line was supposed to compose of shirts with my name and face printed on it. My fans deserve better than that, I thought, and so now, here Heart Locker is." Tifa's face brightens. "I'm really grateful that Ysabelle gave me this chance. She's a huge name in the fashion industry, and she's the best person to have around when it comes down to style."

Immortal, her action-romance movie with Reno and Elena, earned a whooping 600million gil, which makes Tifa Lockhart worth at least 200million today. "Funny. I don't really spend a lot these days, and I'm frightened with all the money I have right now. I always wonder how I'm going to spend it all. The last big purchase I had was last year, when I bought myself a car." She frowns a little and said, "If money could buy me something, I would use it all to bring back mom. It's funny how I have all this money, and she's gone. She was the reason why I entered the world of acting in the first place." Tifa Lockhart is funding a research group that aims in finding the cure for cancer.

"There are those times, when I'm alone, I ask myself 'so what's next for Tifa Lockhart?' and I end up with a million ideas. There are times when I come up blank. Sometimes I leave the question hanging and just order pizza." She says with a grin.

When asked where she went, the actress declined to say where it was, but said that she used another name to stay there. It was definitely not out of the country as well. "It was a very peaceful place." She notes.

Wherever she went, we applaud Tifa Lockhart. She has emerged as a completely changed woman. She's stronger and more mature, and we cannot wait for the surprises she's got for us! •

Tifa set the magazine down on the tabletop and smiled to herself. Yep, her interview skills hadn't gone rusty. Her photographs were all stunning as well.

"Rufus, do you think I can ask for copies of my pictures?"

"Of course doll…" Rufus answered, raising a brow. "This is the first time you've asked for copies."

She merely smiled. "I'm celebrating my liberation."

"Hmm, alright. I'll be right back." Her manager left her alone in her living room. Tifa sank back on the couch the moment Rufus left the room, wondering what Cloud was doing. Was he thinking about her too? She grabbed her phone and looked at the screen. There was no text message nor a missed call. With a sigh, Tifa stood up and headed outside, to her car.

Rufus stared at her, with a raised eyebrow. "Hold on a second," he said to his phone. "Tifa? Where are you going?"

She looked at him and said, "I need to talk to Cloud. Will you be alright here?"

"Actually I think I'd rather go to a Starbucks." The blonde man answered.

"Alright then, I'll drop you off."

The apartment complex where Cloud lived was quiet. There weren't much people out in the afternoon. Tifa proceeded to head over to the third floor, where he stayed. She knocked on the door for a full minute. She wondered if he was home. Finally, the door opened. It was Zack who answered the door, and it seemed like he had just woken up—his hair was not styled, his eyes were slightly droopy.

"G'morning, Tifa." the raven said lazily.

She giggled a little, then said, "Good afternoon, Zack. Is Cloud here?"

"Yep, he's in his room. Come in," he told her.

"Thanks." Tifa said as she walked in. Their apartment had changed a lot—their lousy old couch had been replaced with a black leather one, and their things were no longer scattered.

"Er, yeah, we bought a new couch. Want me to wake Cloud up so we can all like, break it in? Aerith gave me a DVD of Immortal, your movie." Zack said while grinning.

"He's sleeping?"

Zack shrugged. "Maybe."

"What do you mean by 'maybe' Zack? Is he sleeping or what?"

"He could be lying on his bed, revisiting your little scene yesterday." Zack answered.

She blushed and looked down at the floor. "I think I'll go see if he's awake then." Suddenly, something rang. "It's my phone, excuse me." Zack said as he dashed into his room. It was probably Aerith.

Tifa squared her shoulders and knocked on Cloud's bedroom door.

"Yo Zack, what's up?" his voice called out.

Her lips were dry, hearing his voice suddenly sent her knees shaking. She shook her head and tried to speak. "…Hey, Cloud? It's me."

Silence.

"Oh Tifa… give me a minute," he finally said.

"Okay."

When he finally opened the door, she saw that he had been sleeping too. She furrowed her brows. "What were you guys up to last night? Both of you look like you've been asleep all day."

He smiled at her sheepishly, his eyes cast down on the floor. "Well, we've been waking up really early for the commercial shoots, and today's our day off. Er… how about you? You look like you've been up all day." He chuckled at his lame joke.

"Of course I've been up all day. Anyway, can I come in?" she asked after smiling at his sheepish pun.

"Sure," he muttered, standing back to let her pass.

"VOGUE just sent me the first copy of their latest issue." She told him, bringing out the magazine. He raised an eyebrow, and she smiled. "I just wanted to share it with somebody. Would you like to look at it?" she asked quietly.

He nodded and sat down. She sat down right beside him. His warmth was so comfortable, she wanted to snuggle him. Suddenly, he reached out his hand, and her heart jumped.

"Tifa? The magazine?" he asked.

She snapped out of her reverie. "Oh sorry. Here."

Cloud took the magazine and studied the cover. "You look stunning," he breathed.

Tifa swallowed, trying to calm herself down. "Thanks," she looked at him, and studied his profile. He was really busy with the magazine—his blue eyes were focused on the pages, his fingers held the edge of the page and his arm's muscles showed themselves as he did so. "Hey Cloud, about yesterday…"

He froze and slowly looked up at her, his face suddenly pink. "What about it?"

"I think our agreement's off."

"…What do you mean?"

Tifa opened her mouth to tell him why, but Zack suddenly walked in the room, announcing, "I'll be leaving. I'm meeting up with Aerith." Feeling annoyed, Tifa nodded. "As I was about to say…" she paused, "the agreement's off. I think it's no use."

He gave her a puzzled look. "No use? For what?"

"I…" she started. "I have to go. I've got a meeting, you can keep the magazine…" Tifa stood up hastily from his bed and started walking out when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Tell me." Cloud said. The magazine lay discarded on the floor. He looked straight into her eyes, trying to get an answer. "Tell me why."

Her lips trembled.

"Do you really want to know?" she whispered.

"Yes."

Tifa closed her eyes and sighed softly. "The agreement's off because I can no longer keep lying to myself over and over again. I made that agreement because I was starting to fall in love with you, and I didn't know if I was ready to dive headfirst again. But yesterday, when I slipped and fell on top of you, I knew I was ready to… fall back in. I love you, that's why the agreement's off, Cloud. I love you." Tears started to sting her eyes.

He just looked at her.

"Cloud… say something… please."

The blonde continued to look into her eyes, before closing the distance between them with a kiss. "I always wanted to tell you that I love you too," he told her when they parted. "But I respected your wish. You don't know how hard it was to always be near you and not be able to tell you what I felt."

They smiled at each other.

"You've got a nice couch," she suddenly said. "Let's watch a movie in your living room!" Tifa laughed as she stood up and pulled him to his feet.

"Wait... Tifa, does this mean that we're together together now?" he asked.

She turned around and said, "I think we are now, aren't we? I mean, we love each other."

"Yeah..." Cloud said with a smile. He squeezed her hand in his and added, "We are."

Author's Note:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thank you for reading chapter 22! I hope you enjoyed. Um, I think I didn't do very well with her article in Midgar Vogue, haha. Also, I'd like to apologize to those who didn't really enjoy this one. I'm not rather new at writing confession arcs, haha! Don't forget to review! -Personally, I think it's too fast, but heck, it's what happened so... yah.-

Victoria Chrystallis