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True, IRL couples take time to get together, but this is fiction. The writer has complete control over all the story's circumstances - unlike real life. Would you have enjoyed the story if Cinderella ended when she lost her shoe; if Romeo and Juliet ended when Juliet drank the "potion" or if "Twilight" ended before the wedding? I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, just different. We, who don't feel satisfied with "open" endings feel like the "rug was pulled out from under us" when stories are left hanging. Personally, as a reader and a writer, I find it to be lazy or poor writing skills - but that is just my own opinion.

Well, when I was younger I used to hate open endings in stories because it left me so unsatisfied. So I understand people who think like that, I was just stating my opinion too haha. However, I feel that my taste in stories has changed while growing up. You may find it lazy, to me it seems like an original choice. But de gustibus et de coloribus non est disputandum! I get that :P

Your 'what if' question is interesting to think about though. It's impossible to answer correctly, I believe. If the only version of Cinderella known had been the one that ended at that point, then I wouldn't have known of the possibility of the prince finding her back. It would have been this version that would have been told to us as children, and because it would have been the only thing we knew, we probably wouldn't really feel that unsatisfied, because we would simply not think about the option of the prince finding her, as the story is and would be really old already, and passed down like that for generations. Like ‘collective memory’ if that’s how I can describe it. (Sorry, you must have noticed by now already that English isn’t my first or second language). Maybe some really romantic people would write fanfictions where they see each other back though. Anyway, the thing is that in that situation, I might have indeed enjoyed the story for what it was because I wouldn’t know any better. But maybe also not. It’s a hard question to answer, as I stated before. Romeo and Julia ending with Julia drinking the poison is easier to imagine than the Cinderella example however. (Because I guess that for the latter, if such an ending was used, some modifications would indeed have to be made. Like at the new ending, adding a few new sentences such as ‘And Cinderella, upon having lost her shoe, realised that she would have to go back to her life as it was before, a life of hard work and sorrow. And yet, she had been granted a chance to experience a dream night. And she was truly grateful for that. The memory of it would accompany her for the rest of her life, and she would treasure it, like the shoe she had left, as the sole reminder of that beautiful night she had once experienced.’ Or something like that, I just made that up, but I mean, it would need a slightly changed ending, because I think no author from that time would end it at such a point, because the story doesn’t have a moral that way. (However this story here is a 21st century one, and not a fairy-tale, so that isn’t necessary.) Well, it wouldn’t be a happy ending, that’s for sure. The Romeo and Julia story would end with someone dying then, instead of two people dying, so it would still be tragic and could have maybe indeed ended at that point and gone into history like that. Probably. The Twilight example… It’s been years since I read twilight… Do they get married? I can’t remember that at all, actually. Ah, I’ve such a horrible memory, excuse me please XD The fact that I don’t remember it, probably shows that that moment wasn’t that important for me, so I guess that I can indeed answer that particular question: Yes, I would have enjoyed it just the same. Probably. The problem with that kind of questions is that it’s about ‘changes in history’; about how different something coúld have been. But the past is the past, just because it happened in that particular way. As a history student, I’m actually not supposed to be thinking about in what way the past could have been ‘different’. But ah well, it’s an interesting thing to think about. A bit philosophical as well; could I have enjoyed a different ending to a story, not knowing that the original ending could have been different? But I wrote a lot already, I should stop here. I am sorry for talking so much, but I like thinking about questions like this. Hopefully you won’t take it the wrong way and think I am trying to pick a fight…. For that I am not at all!

I absolutely loved your reply. Thank you for taking the time and effort to consider my question thoroughly and answer with such a well written and seriously thought out reply. Your English skills are fantastic, by the way, so please don't worry about it. You gave me a lot to consider in your reply. I have always been sure that I would hate it if my favorite stories ended differently than I remembered, until I read your reply. I started to think about new and different endings to "my old favorites". I was surprised to find that I was less pleased with the original endings than I assumed I would be. These thoughts also inspired some great new fiction I'd like to write - Twisted Fairy Tales : New Endings to Old Favorites. LOL So, thank you for inspiring me to reflect and inspiring me to write.
I doubt I could ever change my feelings on "open" endings. They leave too much of an empty feeling behind for me and I've had teachers and professors that drilled the "classical" approach to writing so deep into my head I couldn't get it out without a labotomy. LOL When I read and write I tend view the fictional world as finite. It ends at the last page of the novel/story/manga and there are no further future events. Which is funny because I write fan-fiction and have finished stories for other writers, but I digress. With a fictional world view being finite, I feel it is my duty to my characters to complete their "lives" as much as I am able or the plot allows. I will often know the end of my story before I write a word. You know what they say about "old dog new tricks"... LOL