02  Pink is for Friendship    Being the ever so fashionable Britanni head designer she was, the clothes Jinri was wearing for the night party for Joonmyun was of course something head-turning. It wasn’t the bad kind though. Neat, clean, well-tailored but stylish. That was how she always carries her clothes and self. Gold envelope bag on her hand, black pea coat covering her grey pleated skirt and white long-sleeved shirt with a finishing touch of her spiked stilettos. And she just changed the color of her nails to pink, since pink is the color of friendship, because it was Kim Joonmyun’s, a.k.a her best friend’s, party.   “Tell me where my best friend is,” he joked.
  Jinri smiled. “Is that a compliment, Kim Joonmyun?”
  He shook his glass of Kirin Free (since he needed to stay sober for the sake of his guests), the ice making a clicking sound. He smiled his ever so appealing smile. Jinri could even remember how he got girls with that angelic smile of his. She was a freshman and he was on his third year. Joonmyun took up law, so, basically, he stayed with her throughout her college years even if the guy was older. He even stayed longer. Nobody had the slightest idea of how strong their friendship had become all those years.
  “You can consider it as one,” he said taking a gulp of the beer.
  “Why are you going in U.S. anyway? And you didn’t even call or text me the past few days. If it isn’t for Junhong I wouldn’t even know there’s this farewell party for you.”
  “I decided to continue studying there. I’m sorry, Jinri. Just got busy lately. And you know how my work can be such a living hell.”
  She scoffed. “You’re such a workaholic nutcase, you know?”
  He chuckled. “Says the girl who sleeps at 4 and wakes up at 5 working for her designs.”   “That only happens during Fashion Week,” the designer retorted.
  “And Fashion Week happens every month.”
  Jinri rolled her eyes. “I may be career-oriented whatsoever but at least I have a boyfriend.”
  That shut him up. Everyone knew he was still not over with his break-up with Jung Sooyeon even if that happened over a year ago. But nonetheless, he laughed the topic off.
  “Heard that from Junhong,” he said. “And it turns out he isn’t completely into your new-found relationship.”
  She took a sip from her glass of iced tea. “He’s never.”
  “I know you, Ri. You’re not that good with boys.”
  That made her confused although he knew what he meant. “But you’re my friend. Best friend, if you don’t mind. And you’re a guy,” she acted dumb.
  He smiled. “Best friend’s different from boyfriend. There’s intimacy involve with the boyfriend-girlfriend thing. You’re not very good with touching and kissing and such,” Joonmyun pointed out.
  She sneered. Oh Joonmyun, if only he knew how Jinri and Jongin had been doing, he would eat his words like a box of veggie pizza.
  “And how did you know?”
  “We’ve been friends for years, idiot. And when you kissed Chanyeol when you were in college, he told me you’re such a bad kisser,” he said, a mischievous grin forming on his face. “It was like kissing a wall, I remember him saying.”   Her jaw dropped open. “He didn’t tell you that!”
  “Yes he did.”
  “Well,” she tried sounding confident, “I’m skilled now.”
  Joonmyun laughed loudly. “Are you?”
  “Go ask Jongin.”
  “So Jongin’s the name.” There was a pause. “How’s he different?”
  She shot her head up to stare at him. Why was that question so overrated? Junhong asked her the same thing, geez. Can people stop bugging her with such cliche questions that could only be heard from movies and soap operas?
  After a long moment of silence, she decided to speak up. Shaking her head, she said, “I do not know how exactly. I just know he is.”
  Joonmyun fiddled with his fingers, a habit he does when he gets confused, nervous, or anxious. The reason for doing it today was not on the list mentioned.
  “You know,” he told her, “You know I didn’t say anything when you were still with Minho.” She shot him the please-don’t-mention-that-name look. “But now, I kinda want to believe Junhong this time. Maybe this Jongin isn’t the right guy. But, yeah, who am I to tell that? I just wish my best friend a happy life.”
  Her death glare turned into a smile. Of course he was concerned. Typical caring Joonmyun. “I am happy, Myun.”
  He looked at her. Fake happiness, he saw. But he decided to tell her otherwise. “Sure you are.”
  “Hyung,” Sehun suddenly cut the conversation off. “Siwon hyung just came. He’s looking for you. And I saw him driving that BMW you told me about.”
  He smirked. “Told you it looks fancy. But mine’s fancier, huh?”
  “I guess so. You know I’m not a fan of cars,” Sehun chirped.
  The older guy laughed. “Fine. And Jinri, by the way, this is Sehun, my brother. He’s about your age. Sehun, you know her, Choi Jinri.”
  Sure, Jinri and Joonmyun had been best friends since college, but even if Joonmyun was close with Junhong, never did Jinri meet Sehun formally. The reason for her not knowing about Sehun was either there was no reason for them to meet each other or Joonmyun was still thinking she wasn’t good enough in dealing with guys to introduce Sehun to her. But even so, there was no benefit for her in meeting her best friend’s younger bro. Even at first sight, she knew they weren’t to be friends. He looked too… bratty which just made sense since Joonmyun was too adult-ish. Siblings were usually the better half of each other.
  But not meeting Sehun didn’t mean she hadn’t seen him until today. She’d been seeing him around lately. And that lately meant a year or two. She just didn’t bother asking. She wasn’t the nosy gossiper, right? Junhong was. And if her memory served her right, she remembered Sehun being quiet a dork. Brown hair, round glasses, unappealing clothes. So just like always, her little brother managed to get the right gossip. This Sehun guy indeed had some make-over.   She held her hand at him which the rainbow-haired took and shook.
  “Nice meeting you,” she said casually as she let go of his hand.
  Joonmyun got off the stool he was sitting on. “You guys talk. I’ll be assisting Siwon. We’ll continue our chat later, Ri. And,” he added, “Don’t get drunk. You can be as harmful as a pesticide if you’re drunk. You know that.”
  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”     “So,” she started rather awkwardly. She was usually good with initiating conversation, but today, she was failing with Oh Sehun. “How’s Myun as a hyung?”
  He answered nonchalantly, “A real pain in the , to be honest.”
  “Well, that’s expected.”
  Sehun opened their fridge and took out a can of beer. It made a popping sound when he clicked the screw open. He took a long gulp.
  Jinri’s eyebrows knitted. “Are you allowed to drink?”
  He chuckled, saying, “I’m freaking twenty-three. Why won’t I?”
  She shrugged. So stern unlike Joonmyun.
  Just then, he phone began to ring. She got in from her bag and excused herself which kind of made both parties sigh in relief and comfort. The atmosphere between the two wasn’t that friendly after all.
  “Jongin,” she greeted. “What’s up?”
  “Hey, I’m outside your house.”
  Her eyes widened. “What? What are you doing there?”
  Jongin was living in a condo in the city. The city was a twenty-minute drive to Kline and it was freaking 11 in the evening. Just what did he want?
  “Continue our little make-out session maybe?”
  She could hear his smirk from the other line. And Jinri wouldn’t lie and tell there wasn’t a smile on her face rig