Two weeks after the audition, the names of the finalised cast were pasted outside the main student lounge of both dorms. Sooyoung and Sungjae hurried over to the list, trying to push past the crowd of students standing around the cast list. Sungjae, being the taller one, managed to get a clearer view of the cast list. As Cinderella was the first name on the list, he saw the name of the boy cast as Cinderella first.

“Heol! Dohwan got the role as Cinderella!” shouted Sungjae.

“Jinjja? Yah, I’ll call him and tell him about the good news!” cheered Sooyoung, as she reached for her phone.

“Don't you want to see the rest of the names first?” asked Sungjae.

“Oh, right!” laughed Sooyoung sheepishly, as they continued to edge their way forward.

After nearly a minute of trying to fight their way through the crowd, the pair finally came close enough to see the full list of names.

“Princess… PARK SOOYOUNG!” shouted Sungjae in excitement.

“Yah, daebak! I got the role of the princess?” asked Sooyoung.

“Looks like it! Okay, let’s see if I managed to secure a supporting role… is my name up there?” muttered Sungjae as he scrutinised the list.

“You are!” squealed Sooyoung. “You’re one of the stepbrothers! Youngmin is your fellow stepbrother!”

“Ah, jinjja?” asked Sungjae with a loud laugh. “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun torturing Dohwan together.”

Sooyoung giggled at Sungjae’s comment, as Sungjae pulled her away from the crowd. Once they detached themselves from the crowd, Sooyoung texted Dohwan about the big news and turned back to Sungjae.

“Shall we go celebrate over lunch?” asked Sungjae.

Before Sooyoung could reply, her phone beeped. Looking at it, she saw that Dohwan had replied. After reading it, she looked sheepishly at Sungjae.

“Mianhe, Sungjae-ah. Dohwan wants to meet up for the project. He’s thrilled about getting the role as the male lead, but he’s worried that we’ll be behind time for our project,” explained Sooyoung apologetically. “You said you guys are almost done with yours, right?”

“Yeah, we are,” replied Sungjae, trying his best not to let his disappointment show on his face. “Kwenchana, you go ahead. I’ll go meet up with Youngmin then.”

“Arasso,” replied Sooyoung. “I’ll catch you up at dinner later today then. I’ll text you later!”

Sungjae nodded with a smile, as he watched her walk away. To his surprise, he felt a slight twinge of bitterness as he watched her departing figure. Shaking off this odd feeling, he turned and walked off towards his dorm, texting Youngmin as he did so.

…

The days passed and the cast and crew had all been given copies of the script. Dohwan and Sooyoung were both very busy with rehearsing and completing their project. This resulted in them spending most of their time together, even surpassing the time that Sooyoung was used to spending with Sungjae.

Wednesday night

SJ: Park Sooyoung, are you free for lunch tonight?

SY: Andwae. There’s a rehearsal in the evening tomorrow and I need to make sure I get this part right by then. I’ll most probably be eating with Dohwan tomorrow. Mianhe.

SJ: Arasso…

Thursday night

SJ: Hey, you wanna grab dinner together tomorrow?

SY: Nah, I can’t. Dohwan and I are behind on the project cuz we’ve been focusing on rehearsals. Another time?

SJ: Neh.

After a few days, Sungjae was worried if Sooyoung was eating properly, since she had been so busy these days. Heading over to her favourite fried chicken store at dinner time, he bought the set meal that she usually ate when she had takeout, coupled with her favourite apple juice. He set off towards her dorm room, grinning to himself while thinking about what her reaction w