Thirty Five

Tifa frowned as the camera man stalked towards her at the airport. "Hi Tifa, had a nice trip?" he asked, trying to be as friendly as possible. She gave him a half smile and pretended to check her phone for messages. "Yeah. Thanks," she mumbled as she headed to the waiting car.

"Have you heard Genesis' new song?"

"Yeah. I was at the awards show." Gaia, thank goodness for these sunglasses. Tifa rolled her eyes.

"What do you think of it?"

She shrugged. "It's a nice song."

"He said it was meant for you. What… what do you feel about that?"

Tifa shook her head and said, "It was very nice of him." The driver opened the door for her and she climbed in, happy to escape the evil cameraman. Lazard slid right beside her and shook his head. "The airport should really do something about those people," he said. She nodded.

The traffic was terrible. Tifa sighed and placed her forehead on the cool window of the car. There was nothing new with the city. She'd much rather be together with Cloud, who is flying to another city right now.

"Are you alright Tifa?" Lazard asked.

Her wine colored eyes wandered to her stylist and nodded. "I'm just tired, that's all. When is this traffic ever going to move?"

He shrugged and passively looked out the window as well. Then he gasped. "Don't look now, kiddo, but Genesis has a whole freaking billboard the size of a tower."

"What?" she groaned. Well, that wasn't really news, but they needed to talk about something. "Never mind that."

"Ah those abs of his are so perfect," Lazard mumbled. "Too bad he's the owner though. Anyway, how was everything yesterday?"

Tifa smiled and reminisced. "It was absolutely perfect, even though I totally failed at using those techie boards of theirs." A dull ache in her chest suddenly appeared. She was starting to miss him again. "What's in my schedule, anyway?"

"You've been invited to an exhibit." Lazard said.

"Exhibit?" she asked.

"Yes."

"When is it?"

"Tomorrow night," he answered, his eyes cast down on his smartphone. The traffic started to move again, and silence enveloped the pair. Tifa drifted off to sleep.

Lazard was shaking her shoulder, saying that they were in her house now. She blinked. How long had she been asleep? With a groan, she opened the car's door and slid out. "Your bags have been brought inside."

"Yeah… thanks. See you tomorrow night." She said and headed inside.

She threw her handbag on the couch the moment she locked the door and made a beeline for her bed room. Collapsing on top of the bed's comfort, Tifa closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep again. But thoughts ran through her mind. Random thoughts of Cloud's boyish grins and alluring eyes, his voice flooded her mind. Oh dear Goddess I want to sleep right now! She thought angrily as she sat up. Every inch of her room was pitch black, as she hadn't bothered to turn on any lights. The wide windows allowed the dim moonlight in. Her eyelids drooped, she yawned but the images still played inside her head.

Well, she wasn't exactly complaining.

The next day, she had a slow morning. She sat infront of her laptop, aimlessly browsing the Internet until she decided to check her e-mail. There were fifty new items in her inbox, one of them from Cloud.

From: Cloud Strife
To: Tifa Lockhart
Subject: I Miss You Already…
Message:
Hey,
Did you get home safely? I hope no papz bothered you at the airport. Hope you enjoyed your visit, he he he. I'm about to board the plane again. This is getting so exhausting. How did you ever survive this sort of lifestyle! Anyway, I was really happy that you came to visit. I miss you already.
I love you.
x
Cloud

A small smile crept onto her mouth as she hit the 'reply' button and began to compose her answer.

From: Tifa Lockhart
To: Cloud Strife
Subject: I Miss You Too!
Message:
Aww, you just made my day. (: Yeah, I got away from the airport unscathed… hope you do too. I'm attending an exhibit later. Love you too.
xTifa

There wasn't a reply from Cloud immediately, and although she was disappointed, she knew that he would answer her e-mail as soon as he can. The other e-mails were from her business contacts. But there was another interesting e-mail for her.

From: elenlramwallace
To: Tifa Lockhart
Subject: Hey!
Message:
Hi Tifa! Remember me? This is Marlene. You know … the kid from Kalm. ^^ I've been trying to get in touch with you. How are you? I see that you and Cloud are still happy and strong… keep it up!
Marlene

Tifa's smile returned as she replied to her young friend's e-mail.

From: Tifa Lockhart
To: elenlramwallace
Subject: Hi Marlene!
Message:
Hi there, Marlene!
Of course I remember you. I would never forget you. Seeing that you're so up to date with the things that are happening to me and Cloud, I'll just ask how are you doing? How's school?
Tifa

And so, her morning blues simply ebbed away.

..

The vast room was filled with incoherent chatter, clinks of champagne flutes and soft classical music. Portraits of flowers, people and places were the centers of attention that night. There were a few pleasantries exchanged, a few curious glances thrown, as Tifa walked in the room. Aerith and Zack were standing in front of a portrait of a hundred wild flowers growing at an abandoned cathedral. They were holding hands and Aerith was talking so happily about the picture.

"Hello," Tifa said the moment Aerith stopped talking. The couple smiled.

"How was your set visit?" both Aerith and Zack asked immediately, not bothering to exchange pleasantries. There was a certain glow in Aerith's face that Tifa immediately noticed. Flowers really do wonders with Aerith's mood.

She grinned. "We went snowboarding and did stuff."

Zack patted Tifa's shoulder and said, "Ah, was my friend any good?"

"They've been trained well. I lost to him, actually."

His large blue eyes and Aerith's green ones widened.

"That's impossible! I've always beaten Cloud at motorcycle races."

The three of them laughed and Tifa added, "How are you two?"

Aerith reached for Zack's hand and smiled warmly. "We've been talking about moving in together."

"Is that true?"

"Yup." Zack said with a stupid grin on his face. Stupid grin or not, he still looked darn good looking, even if he looked like an idiot.

"Congratulations then!" Tifa said. "That's a really nice picture, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is, that's why I'm buying it for our new flat!" Aerith declared. "Please excuse us for a while. I don't want anybody else getting this one."

"Okay," Tifa said, stepping aside to let the couple fly past her and towards the cashier counter at the very back of the room. A waiter approached her and she took a flute. The pictures were so… amazing to look at. She walked around and stopped at the very back of the room. Only three pictures were mounted on the wall.

One of the pictures was of Cloud and her, at Heart Locker's runway. Lips locked. Tifa smiled as she reminisced. She had seen a hundreds shots of their moment then, but this picture was full blown awesome. She headed off to buy the picture.

When she got home at around two in the morning, she fired up her laptop and opened her e-mail immediately. There was a reply form Cloud.

From: Cloud Strife
To: Tifa Lockhart
Subject: Exhibit?
Message:
What exhibit? Sorry, it took a whole day for me to answer. I would have loved to go with you… I've never gone to one of those… well, I've only gone once, and I didn't really get to look around since I was delivering…from what I remember, ten boxes of cheese pizzas and eight pepperonis.
I love you.
Cloud ;)

Without batting her lashes, she typed her reply.

From: Tifa Lockhart
To: Cloud Strife
Subject: E-mails, pictures…
Message:
I went to a photographer friend's exhibit and I bought one of her shots! I can't wait for you to see it. It's going to be delivered her right after the exhibit's been finished. Zack and Aerith were there too. They're planning to move in together already! Isn't that great? Also… Marlene e-mailed me today. How are you?
I love you more.
xTifa

Author's Note:

Hello, hello. Sorry for the EXTREMELY long wait. I've been having too much fun in college. Well, yeah, I know I'm going to get caught up in so much…whatchamacallit? Homework… in the coming days, but I'm still smiling. Who else here is a fan of YFCz? Did you smile for them? I'll miss them terribly. Anyway, my next update may take an equally longer time to float up here, lol. Thank you for all the reviews, guys!

Please don't forget to scold me, okay?

Vikki