#((to be the perfect respectable little prince of the south; and it made dori miserable; and beau saw that))

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

At that rumination, Susannah paused, beginning to wonder the same thing: What if she and Philippe had crossed paths all those years ago, and just didn't know it? Had she looked out into the sea of partygoers, and seen a young blonde-haired man among the faces in the crowd, blissfully unaware that he was the love of her life? Had they walked past each other, unknowingly meeting years before he set foot in Mickey's Haberdashery?

"I...I wish we'd met earlier..."

As soon as she said it, Susannah flinched, cheeks reddening at the embarrassment flooding through her-but it was the truth, wasn't it? She did wish they'd found each other sooner...she wished she hadn't had to live the last several years of her life feeling so empty, particularly in the absence of her father. She wished she could've had him to turn to-to look forward to seeing after work every night, to sit and talk to on an early morning over breakfast, to lay against his chest as they swayed to the music playing from the nearby restaurants...

And Philippe! Her beloved could've found happiness too, had they met just a little sooner-he could've had an escape from the pressures of his family, them constantly breathing down his neck, so fixed on their ideal life for him that they overlooked who he really was at heart. She wished she could've been there for him earlier-to give him an escape from the iron-clad expectations of the upper class, to be able to listen to him (to really, really listen to him), to give him some measure of comfort through her presence...

She just wished neither of them hadn't had to be alone for so long.

Cheeks still warm, she held up the tome she'd grabbed, trying to brush past her bittersweet comment as she said, "Th-This looks like the one Belle read from, I-I think it has all the same stories!"