If anyone asked her which collaboration with Yoo Jin did she prefer, she would answered there were too many to cite. Of course, nothing beats the second performance where they sang Romeo N Juliet. Back when they were still in Kirin High Arts School. But the events leading up to the performance was not that all smooth sailing.  

The moment Haesong took the rose from JB, Rian’s face fell. Despite their talk previously, regarding on JB and how she must refuse his proposal at all cost, Haesong had failed to keep her promise with the idol.

She knew this was to be expected. JB was smitten by Haesong in all her ordinary glory. And who can resist JB when he was at his most sincere form? Even she was powerless back in their trainee days. But now, another problem persisted.

With PD Shin Jae In announced the successful pairing of JB and Haesong, all was left between her and Yoo Jin. Of course, President Kang Chul’s plan was falling apart, and she, for most part, still could not overcome the shock that came with it. All eyes were on them now. A sympathetic expression crossed the Super Idol’s face. Her hand trembled as she stood there, for the whole audience and him to see. He took the rose from her, got on his knees and held the rose for her. Rian hesitated to take it, but she did anyway. He went to stand next to her.

Too many emotions attacked her, too many for her to comprehend. There was humiliation, sadness, relief, and grateful, just to name a few. She was embarrassed by JB’s pick Haesong over her. Sadness eloped her as a whole, her feelings for him was one sided and it was time to wake up from the delusion that JB was still hers. Relieved that it was Yoo Jin who came to her rescue, again.

Afterwards, Rian found herself staring at her phone, more specifically, at the pictures taken during her trainee days. Just her and JB, before both HershE and I: Den debuted. She felt someone eyeing her movements and turned to face the mysterious person. She saw him, grinning at her. She waved at him, motioned at the spot next to her. He sat next to her, bringing his guitar along. He plucked the strings to a familiar tune. Her face lit upon recognition of the song.

“Why are you here? What did I say about you always hovering around me?” Rian raised her perfectly shaped eyebrow. He shot her back with, “I was not hovering and what did I say about having matters of my own to settle. There was nothing to do in my room and I’m bored.” She just rolled her eyes, hiding a heartfelt smile.

She always thought that the real reason behind his picking of her as a partner was due to sympathy. Either that or he just wanted to get back at Haesong ... and there was only one person remained unpaired, which is her. Which of it was true, she will never know. He smugly told her, “You wanted to win, right? The only one person who can help you is obviously me, the Super Idol.”

Days before the competition, the two gathered in the practice room. Practicing tango to enhance their “chemistry”, surprisingly for Yoo Jin, who had never dance ballroom dances before, was a natural when it comes to tango. They were a little wobbly, especially the twirls. But with proper guide, they sort of perfected it. Despite his drive to win, Yoo Jin ultimately requested many breaks, and to make it worse, his ego and status was getting a little ahead of himself.

She really needed to stop that ego of his from getting bigger. What she was about to do, revealing that he was a pacemaker for JB, surely will sting him to no ends. But that will get him to bounce back and get serious with this audition. But first, they had to discus about the song they will perform. It was a perfect timing that he initiated the question first.

She looked at him, half smiling, “Love isn’t always sweet.” Again, the clueless look formed on his face. She just left him be. He gave her reply a thought, too engrossed with his thoughts that he failed to hear her whispering, “Just wait till I get everyone on my side.”

She asked Yoo Jin sometimes, whether or not; it was cruel of her to reveal to him that he was only a tool for JB’s success? He only returned with, “There’s nothing in this world that you can do to break me, princess. That was just a sting in the . Stop thinking about that. Now eat,” pointing at her untouched food. She huffed in annoyance. Really, after all the years being friends and together, he still had the nerve to be cocky.

She had expected him to storm off, announcing that their partnership has ended in the heat of rage and she had to deal with the consequences of having no partner, or even securing a losing spot. Instead, he texted her somewhere between one and two in the morning, telling her to go down the roof.

Rian was quite surprised when she read his text. Carefully, she got herself dressed properly and tiptoed out from the room, avoiding waking Seul, Sondong and Haesong up. She decided to take the opportunity to (maybe) ask forgiveness later for crushing his ego, that is. She made her way to the roof. His back facing her, he and his guitar filled the silent with their wonderfully weaved music. She walked up to him, found several music scores lying around and he continued to ignore her. She tried to light up the mood with a tease but stopped when he glared at her.

“What’s this?” She picked up one of the music score.

He broke out into a goofy grin.“Our secret weapon. I gave your words some thinking. It is only fair if we do something different, instead of the usual lovey-dovey proposal.”

formed an “Oh, I see.” He proceeded to explain some of the songs that he thought were appropriate, while she listened intently.

She admired his sense of professionalism and stubbornness. It was like seeing JB within, only the difference was that he was taller, muscular and ... cocky. All his music choices were implausible, fitting the concept she had in mind. No wonder JB felt threatened by a man of his calibre.

She sifted through the music scores; he took charge of their stage presentation for now. Her eyes narrowed at the sight of his handwritten note on one of the music score titles. She brought it closer to her eyes. It was then she knew she found the right song for the performance. She tapped at the music score and handed it to him. He frowned, “You want to do this song?” She nodded enthusiastically, with a bright smile.

“Why? I already wrote this as unfit for the song because it’s too sad, the audience might cry.”

There are times where talking, no, arguing with him was more than enough to convince her that he was mentally retarded but musically gifted. She refrained herself from pinching his cheeks or inflicting pain. Even that maybe not adequate to put some sense into that useless brain of his.

“I know, but you wrote here that for every break-up or heartache, it is best to only relive on the good memories. Beside, we were aiming for the audience to feel sad, remember? If they won’t shed some tears, I will be the one to do it.”

He shook his head disbelievingly, “B-but I wanted to do this song,”he held up a blue paper for her to see.

“Even if I die, I can’t let you go? That’s the song you have in mind? No, we are doing Romeo N Juliet by Clazziquai. It’s much better, trust me.”

He tried protesting again, “What’s wrong with this song? This also fits your concept. For eternal love, even if the other person wants to break up with you- She placed her finger on his lips, silencing him immediately, “No, we are doing Romeo N Juliet and that’s final. How’s the stage presentation coming?”

He grabbed another paper and shoved it into her hands, too annoyed to answer her. There were words highlighted in bold; fireworks, guitar solo, lots of leather, spiky things and heavy makeup. She only stared at him dubiously, massaged her temple as she shot daggers at the paper.