The Doll Maker

The Doll Maker

Suho spent his days taking care of his family's doll shop, down the corner of Summit Street. At age twenty-two he was making and carving wooden dolls. Now, Suho knew that one day he'd have to take over, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. Suho's father and grandfather had passed from a terrible train wreck. Since then, the shop was temporarily closed until Suho decided to open it back up a year later.

When Suho was younger, he would be bullied and made fun of because he was the son of someone who made dolls for a living. Suho didn't mind though. He always admired his father and grandfather for making all the beautiful, wooden dolls. They were pieces of art that took long hours to perfect. All the intricate details needed steady hands and patience. Of course, other kids didn't understand whenever Suho told them that. But then again, they didn't have anyone in their family who made dolls for a living.

Everyday during work hours, he'd watch customers come in and out of the shop leaving with their dolls as he continued to work on others. He would perfect a doll no longer than one week. But there was one doll, that he just couldn't perfect. He had been working on it for two months now.

The only time he worked on this doll was after he closed up the shop. He'd go long into the night trying to perfect just that one, but he never could. Suho would always get the arms right, the legs right, the hands right, the shoes right, the clothes right, but he could never get the face right. Whether it be the eyes, the nose, the ears, the way the mouth curled when smiling, the jaw line. Suho had made multiple dolls of just this one, but it'd be ruined everytime he tried to get the face correct.

Now, why was this doll the only one he couldn't perfect? Why was he so obsessed with perfecting just this one? You see, the dolls his father and grandfather made were based on people. They had made dolls to look like those in the neighborhood and beyond. But, Suho had never seen the face of the doll of which he was working on.

Suho first saw her in his dreams.

He was sitting in a field of tall grass, his eyes closed as he tilted his head back to feel the warmth of the sunshine on his face. As he opened his eyes he turned to look at his right and there she was. Sitting right beside him; her knees brought up to her face and face rested on her knees. Her arms were crossed and she was tapping a beat so quiet the wind that was blowing couldn't even catch it. Her face was covered by her hair because of the blowing wind, so Suho could only see so little of it.

When Suho awoke, he quickly took out a sketchbook and started to sketch the figure he saw in his dream. It was short, his dream, but he sketched as much as he could remember.

The next few nights and days were the same. The same dream and sketching even more details. About a week of the same dream, Suho decided to create a doll after her.

Two months later and he was exactly where he started: nowhere.

Suho knew it, he had fallen in love with whoever the girl was that kept appearing in his dreams. He couldn't get over the fact that the wind would always blow and her hair would always cover her face. He couldn't get over the way she tapped her fingers on the side of her leg. He couldn't get over the fact that she was right next to him yet so far away.

Days would pass and nights would pass. Stuck, he was. He could perfect everything except the face. He had tried multiple times trying to imagine the way her face would look when the sun shined on her. The way she'd look if she looked at him. But every single time he tried, he knew it just wasn't right. It had looked nice, but it wasn't the face that belonged to the girl.

One night the dream stopped occurring. Suho thought maybe it was just a one night thing; that tomorrow he'll be dreaming that dream again. Wrong, Suho was wrong. He stopped having that dream for almost a week now. This frustrated him. It made him upset, angry, disappointed, and sad. Why wasn't he having that dream anymore? Better question, why did he ever even have that dream in the first place?

He had started to give up on the doll. There was no use if he could never get the face right. There was no use since he was never able to see her face. There was no use if Suho would never get to meet her.

Weeks had gone by and he finally decided to set the doll aside. He put it the front of the store: the doll with bright red shoes, legs, arms, a pretty white dress that fell above her knees, a flower buttoned up cardigan, and wavy brown hair that landed slightly below her shoulders. It was a beautiful doll, but faceless it was.

Customers would walk in and ask him about that doll. "Ah, it's gorgeous. But, why doesn't it have a face?" "How come this one doesn't have a face?" "I'd take it but it doesn't have a face." "The one in the front is faceless. Did you not finish it yet?"

And Suho would reply: "The doll hasn't found its owner yet. It's waiting for a face."

In and out people would go, commenting how amazing the faceless doll was, but no one wanted it. One day, Suho was busy working on a doll during work hours that he hadn't realized the bell ring when the door opened and a customer walked in. It was a female who had walked in. Her steps were as light as a feather as she walked in her bright, red shoes and hummed a little tune. She tapped her fingers on the shelves as she looked around. Just as she opened the door to leave, she paused in her steps. Her eye had caught sight of that doll with bright, red shoes. Just like her own.

She picked up the doll and examined the small, intricate details on the dress. She didn't mind that it had no face. She found it mesmerizing. Her steps were quiet as she approached Suho who was much too concentrated on another doll.

"Excuse me," she whispered. And Suho looked up to see from where this delicate voice had come from. "Can I buy this one?" she held up the doll.

Suho was stunned. She was just as gorgeous as the girl he saw in his dreams. "Uh," was the only thing he was able to spit out, "It doesn't have a face, though."

The girl turned the doll back to her, smiled and replied, "Yeah. I know. It looks mystical though." She looked up from the doll to Suho, "But I was also thinking, maybe you could make the face look like me." Suho couldn't say anything. He only thought, still, why would she want it?

"You must think I'm crazy," she laughed, "It's stupid. I'll just buy it like this. Faceless."

Suho gulped, "Uh, no. I can make it look like you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I can do it right now, or you could come back and get it tomorrow."

She looked at the time, "I'd love to stay so you could finish it, but I have to get going. So tomorrow? I'll come back to get it."

Suho nodded to her and watched as she turned to leave. Just as she opened the door, she turned back to Suho, "You've only seen me for like five minutes? Are you sure you'll be able to make it like me?"

"Yes," he smiled, "Of course."

He closed up the shop and got ready to work on the doll. To work on the doll's face. First, he sketched the face as much as he could remember and then added in the colors of her eyes, her cheeks, her lips. Suho completed the doll and sighed.

"I guess this is it," he said as he set the doll on the counter, "The doll has found its owner."

And as he went to bed at night, the dream occurred. Eyes closed while sitting amongst tall grass, head back feeling the sun's warmth. Eyes opened as he turned to the right. There she was, sitting beside him. The same as ever: face resting on her knees, fingers tapping to a beat ever so quietly. The wind blowing, her face covered.

And this, Suho thought it was reality, as if he was living in his dream. He was still mesmerized by her. As he was in a daze, she pulled her hair back from her face and turned to meet his eyes. She smiled at him. Suho was stunned. It's her, he thought.

Suho was up early the next morning, anticipating one thing only. Maybe it was just him, but it seemed as if no one had come into the store. He started cleaning around the shop. Suho only cleaned the shop when he was anxious or it got too dusty. This time, he was more than anxious. He hadn't notice the time go by until there was a quiet knock at the door. Immediately, he stopped his cleaning and headed to the door. He took slow, small steps to get to the door. As he opened the door, she stepped in with a smile, "Hey, did you close early or something?"

"Huh?" Suho replied until he noticed he hadn't changed the sign from CLOSED to OPEN all day. "Oh, I must've forgotten to change it this morning." No wonder there weren't any customers, he thought to himself.

He led his guest to the counter where he left the doll. "Here you go," he said as he handed her the doll.

She squealed in delight "Oh gorgeous! Hey, it really does look like me!" She looked at him with her brows furrowed, "How'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"The face. How'd you make it look so much like me? I know you said you'd be abe to do it, but still."

"Uh," he was starting to stutter. "I guess, uhm, I just...good memory, I guess?"

"I guess," she laughed. "How much shall I pay for this absolutely amazing doll?"

"There's no need to pay," he replied with kind eyes.

"Oh come on. This doll is worth something, I need to pay," she argued.

"No, there really is no need to pay. It was a small project I was working on is all. If there was someone who'd come in and want that faceless doll, they'd have it at no charge."

She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and smiled. And with that she said, "Thank you." Suho smiled in return and watched her as she left. Her bright, red shoes hitting the ground, making no sound at all.

Just like when she tapped her fingers to a beat, the wind couldn't even catch it. Just like his dream, he thought.

 

 


 

 

So yeah. That's the end of this. It sounded a lot better in my head than when I re-read it. lol. Anyways, hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading. Ugh, honestly I didn't know how I wanted it to end so I changed the ending 5 times? hah. Tell me if you don't understand what happened, I'll try to explain as best as I can. Hopefully I'll come back with another one-shot featuring B.A.P? lol. :) Thanks again to all you lovely readers and subscribers! I'm sorry I don't personally go and tell you thank you, but I really do appreciate it! /_\ I''ll be back when I'm a better writer! lol ^^ Until whenever~

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iwantrilakuma
#1
Chapter 1: Daebak! ^_^ it's like ''ruby sparks'' !!
B2utyShawol19 #2
Chapter 1: this is amazing! :"DD love it! <3
day_by_day
#3
Chapter 1: This is an awesome story, super well-written! I'll definitely read more of your stories in the future~ Fighting!
AeSunset
#4
Chapter 1: I like it and its amazing!!! Good job!!!