[This is neither denial nor unawareness, but... fear.

Ren has caught her red-handed, and while she's not willing to admit to it fully out loud, she isn't going to refute it either. She thinks it would be better explained from her point of view, rather than from only what Ren saw.]

Cloud and I weren't close as kids... we knew each other and were friends, but I was just the girl who lived next door. The one who wanted to be friends with him, but he'd always turn away. I think it was because I was always surrounded by other boys. Wasn't until we grew up a little that we became closer.

[Tifa's voice and expression exudes warmth. Fondness. Nostalgia for when things weren't so bad.]

He left to join SOLDIER a long time ago. I haven't seen him in... seven years? When he came back to Midgar, that was the first time I'd seen him. Just before the bombing mission. Cloud's...

[Cloud is everything to her. The only thing she has left of home. Of Nibelheim. Of her past and who she used to be. She doesn't want to ruin that. She's afraid of ruining that.]

Cloud's important to me.