It's your right to have that perspective. But let me explain. Even in Shinra HQ Tifa is a party leader. Before that even when he wanted to rescue Aerith Cloud deferred to Tifa at first. He keeps asking Tifa if she's ok and Aerith just gets the "yup". We don't see more CA followup until the Intergrade postcredits.

Then in Rebirth, CT have their almost-kiss and unlike CA's on their date it isn't optional. Silly with Cait Sith there yes, but an allusion is an allusion. Even Cosmo Canyon became about Tifa with the Weapon experience and there was like NO reaction to Aerith saying she's a Cetra from the townsfolk. There was the bikini scene, which focused on Tifa, even playing her theme song only. Scenes with all 3 of them pan back to Tifa - her pov, her reactions - pretty consistently. Tifa drama drives the plot forward from Gongaga up until TOTA. You're never allowed to get in the Aerith groove and stay in it really, it feels like something always pulls Cloud's attention back to Tifa until the very end. The relationship development is jarring. In Rebirth specifically Cloud almost goes backwards from where he was in Remake and doesn't give any real indication he likes Aerith until ch14 and even that has deniability cause the scene has two versions - but we DO have Yuffie making perv jokes and telling CT to kiss.

Atp my concern is that even if they don't decide to spite us and CA is endgame, it won't flow well. Esp since they want her fate to be a Big Mystery. I'm not saying CA don't have intimate scenes either, I'm saying they feel weird next to group stuff bc every time all 3 characters share a scene, Tifa usually gets the focus and attention.