That night, he dreamed of going to a McDonald’s with Jinki.

“Jonghyun, let’s get their ice cream, I want you to try something”

Staring at Jinki’s face as he smiled in wonder, Jonghyun copied what he had just done. Picking up a french fry, he dipped it in the vanilla icecream. Expecting the combination to taste disgusting, Jonghyun was pleasantly surprised when the mixture actually tasted pretty good.

“This is good, Jinki”

“Oh, this is nothing. Try putting some fries into the burger”

Jonghyun was beyond impressed with Jinki’s knowledge of these combinations and committed these instances to memory. When he tried them for real, they tasted even better than in his dream. Jinki knew so much, and Jonghyun couldn’t wait for his bedtime to arrive each night, so he would learn something new.

One of the strangest dreams he had, was when he and Jinki left together from their house to the park. They jumped around in the rain and splashed each other by playing in the puddles. Jinki his hair as Jonghyun lay down on his lap on one of the park benches once the rain had stopped. When he woke up the next morning, he was soaking wet and lying down on the bench from his dream. When he wandered home, dazed and confused, his parents made a huge fuss of him.

“Jonghyun, where did you go? How could you just leave like that?”

“Mom, I didn’t go anywhere”

Extremely worried, his parents took him to a psychiatrist who diagnosed him with a sleeping disorder. In fact, he had started sleepwalking, which explained him waking up in the park. From now on, his parents were advised to check on him in the middle of the night, to make sure he was still safe in bed where he belonged. His parents were unable to figure out how and why this had started, but the day they found him lying by the fridge in a pool of ice cream, they’d had it with him.

“Jinki said he was hungry”

Their quiet, well behaved son had started to act out, and his excuse was his imaginary friend. There was only one thing they knew for sure. This imaginary friend of his had got to go, and they were willing to see as many therapists as needed.

Sitting in the pristine office, Jonghyun just felt a strange sense of fear. He couldn’t figure out what was so scary about a room which had everything in white, even the chairs. A different kind of doctor sat with him and started asking him questions. The first thing Jonghyun noticed was the fact that this person had an odd smile, and just reminded him of a shark.

“Who is your best friend at school?”

“No one”

“Is it because you can’t just pick one person?”

Stifling a sob, Jonghyun covered his face with his hands and blurted out the truth,

“I have no friends at school. No one likes me”

Peeking from between his fingers as the doctor his shoulder, Jonghyun tried to relax but failed. The cold room and the icy fingers that he could feel even through his shirt made him on edge.

“Who is Jinki?”

Jonghyun had lied to his parents all this while, but could he manage to do the same in this scenario? It was natural for children to have imaginary friends, so it made sense to admit to it.

“He’s my friend, who is always by my side. He’s standing right here, next to your table”

“Ah, your friend? Okay. As long as he takes care of you, and keeps you out of trouble, things will be fine”

Thanking his lucky stars that this doctor seemed to understand him, Jonghyun walked outside the room with a huge smile on his face. The doctor then spoke to his parents and mentioned that all of this was normal. The only thing he did was prescribe some medicines for Jonghyun so that he would be able to have an uninterrupted sleep each night, which would curb the sleepwalking.

****************************************************************

Jonghyun had recently turned sixteen years old, and by now, had grown into a handsome man. After experimenting with different hair colours and styles, he had coloured his hair black and had even changed his style of dressing. What no one knew was the fact that it was Jinki who helped him each time. Over the years, Jonghyun would even have a conversation with Jinki and could visualize how he’d look. Currently, Jinki was lying sprawled on the bed, wearing a black and white checked shirt and jeans.

“Jonghyun, have you thought about going blonde? I think that would suit you better”

“Do you really think so?”

“I know so”

“Well, as always, I trust your judgement, Jinki”

Looking at the smirk on Jinki’s face as he took out the container of hair dye, he first started to bleach his hair so that it would be easier to colour it. Although it was fun to experiment, Jonghyun had always been careful to use hair packs so that his hair would get the nutrition it needed. With aluminium foil on his hair, he knew he looked ridiculous as Jinki almost fell over, laughing. When his hair had turned light, Jonghyun was surprised when Jinki pointed to a different dye. Silver.

“Seriously? Silver, Jinki?”

“Trust me”

“Ah, what would I do without you? I can’t even imagine going to university. You’d be with me, right?”

“No Jonghyun, my place is here”

“What do you mean?”

“My place is here, with the house”

Assuming that Jinki was just playing around, Jonghyun just shook his head and finished dyeing his hair. After blow-drying his wet hair, Jonghyun had to admit that Jinki certainly had good taste in fashion and trends. Sometimes, it was very easy to forget that Jinki was a doll. What he never understood was why Jinki was refusing to accompany him to university. Off late,  he’d been having unusual dreams about Jinki, and how things would be if they dated. At sixteen, those around him had started to date, but Jonghyun had preferred to stay single. Once when Jinki brought it up and asked him why he was still single. Jonghyun had no idea how to tell Jinki about the thought that always lingered in his mind. How could he date someone when he was developing feelings for the one who has always been by his side? His first kiss had happened very recently when he’d walked his classmate home. He’d only thought about Jinki the entire time. He’d imagined Jinki’s soft lips against his, and Jinki’s arms winding themselves around his waist. Although he did reciprocate, his partner had got extremely offended when Jonghyun whispered Jinki’s name. How could he even think of being with someone else? The very idea was laughable.