The first time they appeared on a variety show together, KBS’s Dream Team 2 as close friends was a couple days after Jin Yoo Jin hit gold in the Gaon Charts. His new ballad was stealing the top spot of almost all music charts while her new drama garnered positive reviews from critics and netizen alike.

The actress spared a quick smile when the camera panned over her seating. When the camera decided to focus on the other attendees, the smile disappeared, replaced with a frown directed to the front row. She cursed her inability to get a closer look at the front row.

They were blocking her view of a certain rock star. All these young idols, rookie actors and actresses were damn tall- what kind of diet did their company introduce them to? Her company from her idols days just told them to eat a healthy diet and exercise a lot. The results were not much, all of them (her, Nana and Ailee) were borderline average height and this era, they were considered short. Okay, she was getting off topic.

Just then, the host announced the next artist to appear, “Please welcome the stunning, Girls’ Generation Seohyun.” Emerging from the backstage was the sophisticated and beautiful Seohyun. Yoo Jin who was expressionless when other artists came to the stage, suddenly become lively and had a star-struck, giddy smile on his face.

Rian, despite sitting behind him, knew the smile had taken place on his face. Instead, a similar smile, the actress plastered a scowl on her beautiful face. All her hopes of pairing with him in this show had gone out throughout the window.

She sat there, shadowed by the other contestants, looking around for candidates, stand-in for Yoo Jin, just in case she did not manage to get him as her partner. Her eagle-eyes scanned for the studio, zeroed in two possible nominees.

The first was BEAST’s Yoseob, she remembered once that he stated she was his ideal type. The second was her favourite comedian, Kyungjin, the closet to her ideal type. Which over these men will make that idiotic rock star green with envy? What a dilemma!

As she was too consumed in her own thoughts, she almost did not hear the host announcing the couple selection had begun, twenty seconds ago. Only when all the female artists were asked to line up behind the men that she realised she was the third person to select and Seohyun was first.

“So, which will Seohyun choose? Will she go for the same-aged friend or will she choose the heartthrob singer/composer?” announced the host excitedly, everyone in the studio rooted for two different responses.

Yoo Jin, with his back against the women, could only afford to smile as he waited. He had publicised before that his celebrity crush was Seohyun, who was in the same age group as he was. He bit his lower lip nervously, while his fellow artists had their heads cast down to avoid looking at the audience.

She would be lying if she did not say that she had pictured winning the trophy with Yoo Jin, the night before. It’s not rocket science, they make a good team. Thanks to her partnership with him, she won the Super Idol Audition- over JB, that’s saying something.

Less than three seconds later, he felt soft hands touching his shoulder, the audiences went wild and Rian, on the other hand, did not looked very happy at the moment with her arms folded across her chest. The newly formed couple went to a corner; Yoo Jin had been grinning like an idiot who scored the jackpot while Seohyun looked excited as well.

Blasted, woman! Wait, why is she fuming over him? No, it’s not jealousy. I-It’s, for the lack of a better word, an unspoken competition between female artist to outshine each other in the presence of a perfect male specimens. Yes, yes, that’s the only reason why she wanted to crush Seohyun in the games later on.

Revisiting that recording reminded her how invidious she was (yes, there was no such thing as unspoken competition between female artists- she just made that up because she was in denial) when Seohyun picked Yoo Jin and how her moronic husband got so exultant, almost forgetting the pack they made before showing up on the studio.

When it was her time to pick, she hesitated for a moment. She had two nominees, nonetheless she still has not settled on which to pick.  While her focus was fully on Yoseob and Kyungjin, she did not noticed Yoo Jin’s hawk-like eyes narrowed at his sight.

In the end, she picked Yoseob over the comedian, she had reasoned that Yoseob was much cuter and athletic compared to the comedian and that would surely rattle Yoo Jin’s confidence, knowing she was a competitive person (their Super Idol Audition says was a proof of that never ending fighting spirit). 

When they announced the first event of 100m relay, she was determined to win and win she did. Yoseob ran faster than she had anticipated, beating Yoo Jin with a two second lead. She, of course, won her race easily, since most of the young idols failed to match up her speed.

Half time, she and Yoseob had won pretty much every race there is, except the final race which consisted of a series of whacked courses. Yoseob and Yoo Jin competed first, trying to get across the obstacles ahead of the other, leaving the other male contestants behind.

Rian cheered wildly when Yoseob reached the finishing line first and booed at Yoo Jin (when the camera was not on her). Then, it was her turn. She carved a sly smirk on her face. Confidence was written all over her face. The bell rang; she took off as fast as her legs could carry. She spared a swift glance at Seohyun, who was catching up.

She jumped over the first few hurdles successfully. By the time she approached the final hurdle, her leg got caught on the stand, tripping her. The audiences gasped in horror as they saw the scene unfolding in front of their eyes. She tried to stop herself from falling face front, proved to be a futile effort. She placed her arms over her face, covering her precious asset from being butchered by the floor.

The rest was a blur to her. One minute she was running and leaping, the next she heard a familiar voice yelling at her something about her “reckless, unnecessary overly competitive behaviour”. The remaining sentences were all jumbled and inaudible.

She opened her eyes and the first face to great her was nothing else but his annoyed expression. Rian did not expect to actually groan, (not because of the pain but the incoming nag from him) when she tried to get up. Little did she realised, she was in his arms.

“Yah, idiot! Are you hurt? Let me look at your face! Thank god, nothing’s damaged,” he huffed. Rian caught his comment, tried to glare at him and retorted, “Stop shouting! I am not deaf, you know!” Yoo Jin roared back at her, “Were you blind? You already lost your momentum; you should just knock the hurdle! You don’t need to run over it! You nearly give me a heart attack!”

“Would you quit the screaming? My ears are hurting because of it,” Rian barked, folding her arms across her chest and her head turned to anywhere except his face.  Yoo Jin carried her in her arms, began to walk off to the spot where the camera crew were standing.

“Is she alright? Someone, get the ambulance!” one of the hosts hollered. A few of the staff ran to check her condition. Despite the recent event, some of the hosts and fellow celebrities actually chuckled and laughed at their antics and a host, Park Kyunglim remarked, “Wow, they’re arguing like a married couple”.

“Are you two sure there’s nothing going on between you guys?” questioned Kim Shinyoung, furrowing a brow. The others began to look at them puzzlingly, some were smirking and a handful was trying to stifle their giggles.

A flustered look took a hold of Yoo Jin’s face and he began to stammer, “U-us? There’s nothing going on. We’re just friends.” He motioned to Rian to clarify the misunderstandings.

Rian nodded furiously, “Yes, we were former classmates during our time in Kirin High. We’re not involved with each other. It’s the truth.”

“Ah, really? According to a source, they were caught holding hands during JB’s wedding,” Kyunglim added, forming a Cheshire grin. Adding fuel to the fire, was her co-host, “Yes, I remembered. Weren’t you guys were rumoured to be dating?”

Rian had never been tongue-tied before, except this moment. Yoo Jin looked stunned at the statement, then interjected, “Oh, that. We were passing tissues, she was crying and ran out of tissues.”

Rian supported his lie, “Yes, I really ran out of tissues. I had been crying before, finishing my tissue supply.” Again, the whole cast just stared at them, sceptically.

After a couple of minutes, she was declared fine and the race was resumed, albeit she was absent from the last race, earning a disqualification for both Yoseob and her. During the prize-giving ceremony, Rian noticed Yoo Jin had been staring at her.

“What?” she mouthed at the rock star, while the focus was on the third place winners. He tilted his head to a side, concern flashed in his eyes, “Are you really okay?” asked the rock star. The actress flashed a reassuring smile, breathed, “I’m fine, idiot. Pay attention to the ceremony, will you?”

He nodded briefly, to show he understood and they returned to gaze at the audiences. It was not long before Rian found him, sneaking his way towards her spot. She widened her eyes, whispered, “What are you doing here? Can’t we talk later without tons of people staring at us?”

“I just come here to tell you that I’m bringing you to the hospital after this filming session is over,” he hissed back, seeing how she was about to protest, he quickly held his finger against her lips, silencing her before she could say a word. “Not a word, we are going and that’s final. It’s my car and I won’t rest until I get a professional opinion, anyway.” With that, he left, returning to his spot.

When the episode came up, she managed to watch it alone- Yoo Jin had to attend rehearsal for his new rock star single. Although, she could not bear to look at herself falling (ungracefully) alas, she continued to watch (she wanted to see how bad did her fall looked like). What surprised her most was that the moment her leg hit the stand; he had already been running towards her direction (sprinting). Truth to be told, his impulse reaction was more than enough to compensate her lost- he practically left Seohyun in mid-talking. Of course, she’s happy.