through cinderella's eyes
1868 w (wooyoung/suzy, + a teeny tiny hint mentioning of chansung/joo)
a/n: fulfilling
dreamoscope unni's (ilu) request so here it is! I don't necessary ship this pairing but she gave such a good prompt (not sure if this matched up lol) and I had much fun writing this. Enjoy~! ♥
At the age of eight, Suji spent her weekends sitting behind the cashier with text book opened on her lap. She observed quietly as couples walk through the door, hand in hand and have harmless arguments over soggy fries or double cheese burgers and sometimes even, lukewarm coffee or berry flavoured slushies. Most of the time, she didn’t listen to the countless conversations. No, the best part was when they stopped and smile at each other in understanding. She gets scold afterward but she it’s worth it.
As a young girl of age, Suji had ascertained one important fact - everyone belongs to someone else.
-
“Running away and back home?” He clapped his hand and laughed hysterically. “Everyone wants to be us - we are the teenage dream. It can’t get any better than this.”
That was his reaction when Suji told him the reason why she was in such hurry that she didn’t even look at where she was heading and ran face first into his chest. He helped her up and introduced himself as Jang Wooyoung and was getting ready to debut in some seven membered group. He was also turning twenty - she would have to address him as her senior, he told her with a playful grin.
He scratched the back of his neck as he asked, “Can you talk?”
She nodded furiously. “Oh - yes, yes, of course.” Suji spluttered while he just had a nice laugh over her silliness.
“I didn’t quite catch your name.”
“Bae Suji - my name is Bae Suji.”
-
By the age of 15, Suji has completed her first two months as a JYP and successfully put in a batch with other girl trainees for a-soon-to-debut girl group.
“Ow -” She groaned when the thick text book came in contact with her forehead.
He ignored the glares from fellow trainees as he pulled out a seat next to her. “Don’t be such a girl.” He said simply and propped his feet on
the table, leaning his back on the chair and looking quite comfortable.
Suji took the chance and smack him on the arm with her Japanese’s workbook when the librarian stomped into the store room for some book in dismay.
“Then don’t be such a boy.” She quipped, sticking out her tongue before turning back to her math’s equation.
Wooyoung murmured complaints under his breath; Suzy promptly ignored him and gave his chin a kick under the table.
He winced, giving her a disdainful look. “I come in peace - and a proposal.”
Suji eyes lit up as he dropped a paper bag on the table. “Thank you, studying without some sugar is a very hard task.” She said, hurriedly scurrying through all type of candies and colourful wrappers hidden discreetly in the brown bag.
Her eyes lit up as she lifted her gaze from the worksheet and to meet his instead. “Yes - what is it?” She asked, her voice raising a pitch higher.
Suzy was almost positive that her eyes were twinkling. They have dropped the formality and held hands occasionally. She was ready for the next step - they were but she suspected he was the only one in this relationship that wasn’t. Suzy had been waiting for as long as she could remember.
She watched as his Adam apple bob. “I -“ He glanced down at the ground while toying the sleeves of his uniform’s blazer.
“I -“ Suji repeated, on the edge of her seat and hands itching to grab at his collar.
A loud gasp escaped her mouth when his arms snaked around her waist and their lips met half way for a sloppy kiss.
The girl on the next table cleared her throat uncomfortably and Suji managed to push him away with a giggle. Silence took over as they
stared at each other intensely, still trying to catch their breath.
Wooyoung started to massage his temple frantically. “I’m bad with words.” He whispered, dryly.
His ears perked up when she placed a small peck on his cheek. “It’s okay, like the old saying - actions mean more than words.
“We should…get out of here.” She said shyly as his hand touched her own.
“Actually, I find the idea of hooking up behind book shelfs very enticing.”
Slap.
That evening, Wooyoung got three bruises - one on the arm, another on the chin and the last on his head. All which were given to him by
Suji and her palm.
-
At age 16, she was no longer a trainee but suddenly, a lead vocal of Miss A.
Suji spent a year watching Minju and Chansung spitting venomous words, slamming doors and throwing any in sight at the wall (just so it wasn’t at each other). The break up came later than expected. They were unhappy and exhausted but they saw it through to the end.
She never understood until the day she was no longer Suji but rather Suzy.
Suji eventually seek help from hopeless romantic movies and novels. It became necessary to read a page or two before she go to sleep. That way when she sees him in the morning, she could imagine this was some high school love story and they would end up making up and holding hands.
Exactly after three months passed after debut. She broke it off with Wooyoung, telling him remaining friends is a possibility, despite knowing better. His jaw twitched as he walked away.
She is still very much Cinderella. She was still getting her happy ending with her prince; Suji tells herself when she looked into the mirror.
Just not today.
-
Half way through the year, they were forced to put their personal problems aside - work comes first. Both of them were determined to make
it big with acting and this teeny bopper show was their make or break.
The first day of script reading consisted of high amount of caffeine, awkward conversations and deafening silence. Once in every five minutes, someone in the room would excuse themselves and head out of the room - unable to take the tension.
He was talking to Taecyeon on their ten minutes break. Suji tough it up and managed to greet a simple hello to both of them. Wooyoung gave her a bitter smile while Taecyeon glared at his friend and greeted back enthusiastically.
“How did it go?” Ji Eun asked when Suji took a seat next to her after the break.
She sighed miserably and flipped through the script. “I think he hates me.”
Ji Eun’s mouth gaped open but shut it before any words could come out. “Oh…” She murmured and took a sip of her orange juice.
“The more you love, the more you hate, I guess.” Ji Eun said with an encouraging smile and Suji felt like abandoning him all over again.
-
Filming finished in November and by that time; they managed to have a five minutes conversation at most.
“Hey” He said simply as he slid down next to the wall of the set.
Suji smiled primly as she greeted back. “Hi, want some?” She asked politely, offering him some of the lollies that Eunjung have gifted her with.
He chuckled and pulled out his own from his pocket. “She didn’t forget me and I know what you’re doing, you hate lemon flavoured lollies.”
“You know me well”
Silence took over and they were back to square one once again. She was so sick of running and fighting. Wooyoung no longer hold it against her for breaking his heart but their friendship was permanently destroyed.
“I’m sorry but I can’t be your friend right now, it’s too hard.” He started, breaking the ice.
People lied when they say it could all go back to normal after the love is over.
“I can’t either”
“Then why?”
She let out a long sigh and stared at her folded hands. “Because I love you too much, don’t want us to end up like all those other couples around us.” She said in an almost whisper as she reached out to touch his hand.
Wooyoung pulled away, pushing himself off the ground. “So what’s going to happen now?” He asked, anger lingering in his voice as he took a step further from her.
“Maybe in the future…”
They shared a brief look, one last smile and one last touch of the hand before they turned their own way. Suji knew what this meant - separation with an indefinite end date.
-
By early May, he ended her fairy tale and crashed the annual company’s party by announcing that he was no longer a single man. First she thought it was just a phase but it had been started since then and it was already half way through July. Suji felt a stab in her heart every time the girl walked through the glass door of the building.
Her name is Kim Taeyeon - she is older, prettier, more talented, thinner and everything Suji will never be. She had big dark chocolate eyes and a laugh of an ajummar. Taeyeon was also the leader of the most successful girl group in the country.
“Oh my god, you’re Hyemi - I mean Suzy”
The girl blabbered on in excitement about how much she enjoyed Dream High when they walked into each other outside of the company’s dance studio. She assumed that the older girl was here to see Wooyoung, she felt sick. Suji decided it would be best to put on her billion dollar smile and compliment her back on her success in Japan (even if she wasn’t the least bit happy for the girl).
“Hey, sorry for being la - Suji…uh…what are you doing here?”
For a moment, she wanted to grab Taeyeon’s pretty little neck and choke her until she needed to be taken to the hospital. The way he looked at the other girl was unbearable to watch, Suji felt her hands balling into fists. He didn’t even say hello like he normally would.
“I’m sorry but I have to go. I wish you two the best.”
She lied, she hoped they fight and break up because Wooyoung was hers - he was the prince and she was princess, they belonged together.
Cinderella had never occurred to her as a woman scorned before.
-
“You’re not Cinderella, stop living in fairy tales.”
That was his respond when she texted him at five in the morning, telling him to leave her and they were meant to be together.
Suji didn’t cry like some would have thought. She simply threw her phone across the room and watch Casablanca.
-
Wooyoung and Suji.
Suji and Wooyoung.
Sometime in the night when she’s half-dreaming, half-awake. Suji thinks of him and some black and white film put together to occupy her mind from hectic schedules and mind boggling routines. There are times where she has come to admit that he was right. She was living in the Cinderella story, except without crystal heels and a fairy god mother.
In his eyes, she was the past and someone else was his future.
Through her eyes, they are soul mates on a horse carriage and living happily ever after.
It turns out that her future now belongs to someone else.