Jin Yoo Jin is not a rocker with an “ahjumma” soul. You can hardly call his habit of getting work up over dramas as “drama addiction”.  It’s not that he has a drama addiction. It’s just that he liked to predict the outcomes of the new dramas since most dramas these days were predictable. That and he can’t afford to lose the 240^th bet to Rian, again. That woman really has well intuitive when it comes to the fortune-telling drama endings and conflicts.

Monday nights were reserved for their so-called “game show” night. It started with a worn-out Yoo Jin and a bored-to-death Rian. It was Monday and the first night they spent together as housemates. Normally, Rian was out until the wee hours of morning, filming dramas and Yoo Jin, who recently got famous with his new ballad, spent most of his nights in the studio. But today, it was different.

The actress was out of a recent filming, thanks to a bad weather where she was reduced to sitting on the couch ala’ Cleopatra style, staring at the television. Yoo Jin, on the other hand, slumped in the red armchair, with his eyes looking lazily at the music score.

Rian flicked from one channel to the other before finally settling on “Entertainment Weekly” and placed the remote on the coffee table. Yoo Jin placed the music score down once he noticed the lack of sound only a flicking channel action would give.

“So, you finally settled on Entertainment Weekly?” he asked, earning a scoff from her. “Obviously. There’s nothing to watch anyway.” The segment on was an interview done by her rival in the acting world (turned close friend during a recent photo-shoot) and her co-star, Kim Soo Hyun.

“I heard he’s dating fellow actress, Go Ara after that advertisement for Canon. He’s a lucky dude. She’s like one of the hottest celebrities, not to mention she had a gorgeous S-line,” Yoo Jin said.

“No, he’s not. And Ara’s only pretty where the cameras are there to capture her. Otherwise, you wouldn’t exactly call her gorgeous if you’ve seen her up close,” Rian huffed, crossing her arms. “I’m way more beautiful than her.”

“Jealous, are we? You might be pretty and all but your personality and princess complex are the reasons why she’s more famous than you are,” he shot back. This effectively caused the former idol to keep shut and they paid their attention to Ham Eunjung and Kim Soo Hyun.

It was about two minutes into the silence before the silence was broken by Rian, “I think they’re dating each other.” Yoo Jin raised an eyebrow, “Who?” Rian sighed before pointing at the television with their index finger, “Them. Eunjung and Soo Hyun.”

“No, they’re not,” he refuted. Rian retorted, “Yes, they are. Just look at them. Are you blind?” He returned his stare to the television and somehow, did not see what Rian apparently had seen. All he saw was two friends being very friendly to each other.

“Fine, let’s have a bet. If they turned out to be dating-

He lost to her, by the way. It turned out to be that Eunjung and Soo Hyun had been dating in secrecy for about three months, prior to the interview. That and Rian knew those two were dating all along before they even did the bet. Yes, he was forced to clean the house, wearing nothing but his boxes and a pink apron. Of course, she enjoyed it so much that she actually took a video and a picture of him with the apron and broom. That picture now earned a permanent spot on their wall of memories.

“Which one? Eunjung with Soo Hyun or Soo Hyun with Ara?” he intercepted her words before she could finished it. “Eunjung and Soo Hyun, idiot. Anyway, I was saying that if I win the bet, you’ll have to do the cleaning for two weeks.”

“What? We have maids for that and I paid for their salaries every month!” the former Kirin music teacher protested, he groaned at the sight of a smirk on Rian’s face. “Then, would you rather spend let these pictures to have a release for the world to feast their eyes on?”

“What kind of pictures?” he wondered and received her smartphone and began to browse the gallery. He gasped in horror to see his old pictures, back when he was still part of the Super Idol Audition and the CF he had shot in order to impress Shin Haesong.

He jerked forward, hawk-like eyes glaring at the woman lying on the couch. She remained indifferent towards his reaction, instead paying attention to the television. Entertainment Weekly ended and she changed it to a drama whose opening credits just began to roll.

That vile woman will be the death of him. Either that or his grey hair will be more prominent by the time he hits thirty. If that is not bad enough, bald patches … oh, that will certainly kill his reputation. He can’t rock the bald look.

“Where did you get these?” he cried, deleting the pictures one after the other. Rian snickered at his actions, “I have the original stashed somewhere you will never find,” she mocked him. “Hey, it’s a new drama. Wanna bet?”

“Another bet?” asked Yoo Jin, looking a little sceptical at her intentions.

“Come on, I’m bored. Besides that, I don’t think I was offered the script for this one, so I don’t know the storyline. Let’s bet on the storyline.” She got to her feet, headed for the study table and took a pen and a piece of paper.

She sat on the floor, crossing her legs on top of the other and looked up at the television monitor. She scribbled the name of the drama, ‘Prosecutor Princess’ and then, wrote down the name of the characters. Yoo Jin, who decided to just follow her instructions, not wanting to get his pictures a public release.

“So, how do we play this?” he asked, uncertain about the game they were playing. Rian gave him a quick glance and replied his question, “We’ll have to watch the first episode to draw on conclusions.”

And so they spent about one hour into the drama. Half of the time, he was busy drooling over Kim Soyeon. Though the hair had been a rather unfortunate choice but who could not love the woman who rocks the red carpet like no other and kick- in IRIS.

“So, I’ll start first. I think she’ll end up with the guy who got stood by his girlfriend. You?”

“B-but they haven’t even set the love-line yet? And it’s only the first episode!” he argued. She shot him a quick glower and he immediately complied, “Err, I think she’ll be with Mr. Moustache Guy. He’s a much obvious match for Ma Hyeri’s character.”

“Okay, so you vote for Mr. Moustache Guy. Now, the conflicts. Mr. Moustache Guy looks like he hides secret and so as Mr. Suave Man. Mr. Moustache Guy probably has a bad history with women and Suave Boy, is secretly a man with a mission. What’s your guess?”

It took him several of his million brain cells to come up with something. He finally settled with Mr. Moustache Guy being a divorcee and Suave Man, is a rich boy who has plans for something yet to bet revealed.

“Great. This is good. Now all we have to do is see who gets the most assumptions correct and the winner will get to order the loser for a month.” Nearly every week, they tuned into Prosecutor Princess. With every assumption she had correct, he scowled at his bad luck and cursed his lack of foresight and vice-versa.

Eventually, the habit stuck (courtesy “Princess Rian”). They never failed to miss new dramas to bet on. Their drama betting addiction grew to a bigger scale where they started to gamble on the love affairs of their fellow celebrities. Among those were bet on was Ailee’s fluctuating dating life, the Hong Joo-Nana-Si Woo love triangle, We Got Married’s Adam couple and others (which he emerged as the loser of most bets except Jokwon and Ga-in).  In a way, he, Jin Yoo Jin, was a super rock star with the semi soul of an ahjumma.