[ She can tell that Tifa's questioning comes from a place of sincerity, of curiosity that may be driven by a wish for some kind of clarity about oneself, and... Well, she can't be upset about that, and for her own part she would... really like to move away from her old tendencies to never speak much of her own life. She'd like to make friends. To be a friend - and that starts by sharing, being a little vulnerable at times.

...Though she does have to chuckle, at first. ]

Goodness... no! If anything, he felt quite unnatural, at first. Always butting into my life every chance he would get, but you know... At the time, it's what I needed. I needed to be disrupted like that, to grow out of the comfort I'd found in loneliness. And now...

[ A fond smile peeks through even her bashfulness. ]

Now, it feels like he was missing, when I look back on what my life was like before...