Barely able to contain his excitement, Jonghyun tossed his shoes in disarray in his haste to explore their new home. Letting go of his mother’s hand, he ran around the house, looking at all the rooms he could choose from. Being ten years old, he could now have a room all to himself, and little Jonghyun was eagerly looking forward to it. After having lived in an apartment in the city for all these years, his father’s new job offer had brought them to the countryside. Large houses with gardens, ample space for treehouses, his family knew they had done the right thing the second they saw the beatific smile on their son’s face.

“Have you chosen your room yet, Jonghyun? We need to arrange all of your things”

“Not yet, mom. Is the whole house for us? Can I have a room on the first floor?”

“As long as you don’t go to the attic, it’s fine with me. When your father and I saw this house with the realtor, she had warned us not to ever go there”

His curiosity instantly sparked, Jonghyun made a mental note to visit the only ‘forbidden’ part of his new home when his parents were still at work. Everything was going to be new in his life. He had a new place to live and was going to start school in a few days. Though leaving his friends behind made him sad, Jonghyun knew he could make new ones easily. He helped his parents paint the walls of his room in a lovely pearl sea blue colour, which made it seem vibrant and set out his things for his first day of middle school. Since both his parents worked, Jonghyun had learned to be independent, ever since he was very young. As he put on his shoes and opened the door to catch his bus, Jonghyun saw an almost imperceptible movement out of the corner of his eye. It seemed as though someone had closed the door to the attic. Assuming that it must have been the wing, Jonghyun made a mental note to go to the attic and close all the windows as soon as he got back.

His first day at school seemed quite uneventful, and since he had joined late, all the groups had already been made. No one needed a new friend and so Jonghyun was forced to eat lunch all by himself, which wasn’t something he was used to. Feeling dejected, he returned back home and made himself a sandwich for lunch. Though he tried hard to heed his mother’s words, he couldn’t help but wonder what was there in the attic.

Tiptoeing up the stairs, Jonghyun opened the door to the attic in the guise of closing the window, which caused the heavy breeze to blow about the house. Grunting as he shut the heavy window, Jonghyun’s eye was caught by something half-hidden under a table. Hearing the sounds of the front door being opened, he ran to his room before anyone found out where he had been.

The next day, Jonghyun threw his bag on the couch immediately after returning home from school and went to the attic. Armed with a duster, he tentatively opened the door, and there it was. The promised land. Crawling under the table, Jonghyun came face to face with a victorian style dollhouse. With wooden panelling and carpeting flooring, there was something almost wondrous about it. The cherry on the cake was the doll sitting on the couch, which was so lovely that it almost took Jonghyun’s breath away. The doll had black hair and was clad in a grey suit with a white shirt. What struck Jonghyun, was the brilliant smile on the doll’s face. He picked up the doll and hugged it, before exploring the rest of the dollhouse. The previous owner of their house had certainly had a lot of time to play with it, as Jonghyun saw that it was fully furnished, complete with a wardrobe full of clothes. Picking out a random outfit, Jonghyun saw that it was a denim jacket with patches on it, a charcoal grey tee shirt and a pair of jeans. The back of the jacket had the name ‘Jinki’ embroidered on it. Was this the doll’s name? Jinki. The name seemed to roll off his tongue. A beautiful name for a beautiful doll. The more Jonghyun stared at the doll, the more his mind began to wander. Wouldn’t it be nice if Jinki was real? That night was the first time he saw Jinki in his dreams. In the dream, Jinki was a transfer student, just like him, who immediately took him under his wing.

Waking up in tears, the ten-year-old couldn’t help wishing that Jinki was his friend. All he wanted was just one friend. Someone to sit with at lunch or just someone to talk to. Without anyone noticing, he hid the doll in his backpack to take to school. Somehow, the second he got onto the bus, Jonghyun felt a warm glow spread through his body, which stayed for the whole day. He got an A on his test and was praised by his teachers. Was Jinki his lucky charm? If everything was going right for him, then it was fair to say that there was a certain possibility of Jinki being lucky.

Jonghyun spent his free time asking his mother to help him create more outfits for Jinki. Sadly, he had to lie that they were for his sports star doll, whose clothes would fit his newest doll. He had a good time dressing Jinki up in various outfits and going on ‘adventures’. His imagination seemed to have doubled in size, and Jonghyun’s imaginary friend was Jinki, who’d accompany him to school every day.

He’d started talking to Jinki during the day, and always imagined a honey-like voice for him to answer with. After a while, he’d start to hear Jinki’s voice answering him. Now that he had Jinki with him, his friendless state really didn’t bother him as much as it used to. One of the dreams that stuck with him, was the very first one where he saw Jinki. Jonghyun was standing on the sidewalk, waiting for the ice cream truck to come by, when he saw a black-haired boy around the same age as him. When the boy smiled, Jonghyun realized who he was.

“Hi Jonghyun, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time. I’m glad you’re finally here”

“Jinki?”

“Of course it is me. Come, I can hear the sound of the truck”

He just stared at Jinki and smiled shyly as he took his hand. The boys ran after the truck and got a popsicle each, before sitting down on the lush, green grass and enjoying them. When Jonghyun woke up, he couldn’t stop craving a popsicle. This dream had always made him smile, because of how real it felt. Each time his mother gave him money for ice cream, Jonghyun couldn’t help but look around for Jinki, in the hope that he might actually be a real person.