Chapter 8

Night had long since fallen as Ellie walked along the street towards Freshfields’ car park. The dazzling reds and greens of Christmas lighting hung from the streetlights above, giving Ellie a magical feeling that bloomed inside her chest. For her, Christmas was an excuse to pull in some extra shifts to cover the cost of all the presents, her only day off being the day itself. Somehow, the childish magic she had once felt had faded, and a dozen pallets of Christmas stock delivery had taken its place. Without anyone special to share the holiday season with, work had served to fill the void. Perhaps, she thought, that magical feeling was the herald of change.
Ellie fumbled around in her bag for her mirror and checked her makeup — about the thousandth time that night. Her insides tingled, and she soon put the magical Christmas feeling down to pre-date jitters. 
Ellie could scarcely remember the last time she had been on a date. Well, not a date-date anyway — whatever the strange outing Nathan Wormald took her on definitely didn’t count. She almost skipped with joy when he announced he was leaving Freshfields a couple of weeks later. 
She entered the car park of Freshfields and found herself greeted by its dominant neon signage, illuminating the night like a biblical star. Ellie scanned the cars and scarf-covered faces, searching for Jae-Sun amongst them. So far, there was no sign of him, and Ellie tried her best to dismiss the intrusive thought that he might bail on her at the last minute. 
Checking her phone, Ellie was relieved to see that she had no messages from Jae-Sun, and swiped away the one from Maddy wishing her luck with an emoji of an aubergine. She did, however, note that she was half an hour early. 
Wrapping her coat tight, Ellie tapped her foot, and chided herself for being too overexcited. She could hardly go home, and definitely didn’t want to go into work on her day off… again. 
Exhaling sharply, she watched her breath turn to mist in the evening air. As the vapour disappeared, her eyes refocused on a group of people gathered in the smoking shelter. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have batted an eyelid, if it wasn’t for the rather noticeable man with the white beard wearing a burgundy pea coat. 
Ellie had seen the rota yesterday: Charles had been given a day off, before a six day run leading all the way up to Christmas. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be allowed to work today. Her eyes narrowed, and she picked out who he was with: Olivia, the checkout girl, Aoife, the manager, Xana, the bakery girl, and…
Jae-Sun.
Ellie felt her heart flutter with excitement. Then her curiosity grew as she saw Aoife hand him a scanner which was evidently broken: wires protruding from almost every surface. He examined it for a moment and said something before passing it back to her. The group then leaned in, seemingly to study the device closer. Some further words were spoken, then Xana’s head reared up like a meerkat, and she looked directly at her. Ellie froze, feeling like she’d been caught snooping on some top secret business, and had to remind herself that these were her colleagues, nothing clandestine.
“Hey, Ellie,” called Jae-Sun, raising his arm and jogging over to her.
“Hey,” Ellie replied, and all thought of the others disappeared in a fog of infatuation.
“You’re early,” said Jae-Sun, sounding a little sharper than Ellie had expected. She let it slide when he seemed to realise, and offered up a smile. 
“Sorry, that’s just me all over — always prepared!”
Jae-Sun started walking. “Then let’s go.”
“Oh,” said Ellie, surprised he had a plan. “Where are we going?”
“I thought we could take a walk along the river.”
Ellie grinned. A romantic walk seemed like a perfect first date.
The river wasn't far from the store; little more than five minutes. Already Ellie could already see the York Minster silhouetted in the skyline. Ellie could scarcely recall the last time she visited it: these days her life revolved around Freshfields and meeting up with Madeline. The thought saddened her. When the New Year rolled round, she resolved to make a few changes — getting out more being one of them.
“Have you lived in the city long?” Jae-Sun asked her, after what felt like an hour of being absorbed in her own thoughts. 
“All my life,” Ellie replied. “I grew up in Huntington and moved into the centre when I was eighteen. What about you?”
“A few years now,” said Jae-Sun. He didn't seem to want to respond further.
“And before that?” Ellie pushed.
“Here and there,” he said, non-commitally. “But originally I'm from South Korea.”
“Cool,” said Ellie. “What made you move?”
Jae-Sun stiffened, as if reliving something he’d rather forget. “Long story,” he replied.
Ellie gave a weak smile. “Sorry.”
Jae-Sun smiled back, but it was clear she had unintentionally touched a nerve.
An uncomfortable silence followed. Ellie risked the occasional glance and saw that he was staring straight ahead, lost in his thoughts. An unpleasant feeling formed in her stomach. Had she ruined this before it had begun?
“How are you finding Freshfields?” she asked, unable to stand it any longer. The last thing she wanted to talk about on a date was work, but anything was better than silence. 
“It’s been okay,” he said, surprisingly pleasantly, given his prior prickliness. “There’s lots of sitting about on the security podium, which isn’t exactly my thing, but Steve’s entertaining enough.”
“That’s one word for him,” said Ellie. She was delighted to see that he laughed. “So you’re not the sitting about type?”
Jae-Sun shook his head. “Definitely not. I’ve always been active, as long as I can remember.”
“I bet you’re buzzing when we get a shoplifter then?”
He laughed. “I suppose so. But to be honest, we’ve not really had that many. Only a couple since the guy you brought to us.”
Ellie’s gaze fell. “The one that went missing…”
“Weird, wasn’t it?” he said. “There one minute, gone the next. Have any of the others been like that?”
Ellie immediately thought back to her Freshfields mentor, and her heart sank. “My friend, Jackie, just sort of disappeared. Not too different from the shoplifter, now you mention it. She was in the middle of a shift; people assumed she ran off to chase after her ex-husband. She certainly mentioned it enough...”
“Another one who vanished…” muttered Jae-Sun.
The comment caused Ellie to frown. “You sound more like a detective than a security guard,” she said, unsure whether or not she was joking. 
Jae-Sun didn’t respond, leaving Ellie’s thoughts to hark back to the car park, where he was huddled together with Charles and the others. She decided not to bring it up; they were talking, which meant things were going well, even if it was just a conversation about work. 
“Does your family live locally?” Ellie asked, attempting to shift things to more personal matters. 
Jae-Sun shook his head. “None,” he said. “All back in Korea, though I still visit them during the holidays.”
Ellie felt her heart sink. “You’re not around over Christmas?”
“Depends how long the job lasts,” said Jae-Sun, before hastily adding. “I mean, my post is only a seasonal one. I might have to look for a new job soon.”
“Oh,” said Ellie, downtrodden. But something didn’t ring right to her. “No, wait, your post is a permanent one — you’re replacing Terri’s position, after she moved back down south to be with her family.” She chuckled. “Unless she went missing too!”
Jae-Sun’s expression changed for an infinitesimal moment, but Ellie caught it. He quickly retreated back into himself, not uttering a word, and Ellie was left feeling she had said something wrong. 
Oh God, she thought to herself. I told a joke about people going missing. He must think I’m a right cow!
No, she quickly realised. That wasn’t it. She could see his eyes darting back and forth, like a chessmaster studying his next move. He was working out if Terri had gone missing like the others! It was like he was obsessed with it, not too dissimilar to Charles…
Her mind again went back to the car park. The two of them were together, talking about something they didn’t want me to know about — that’s why Jae-Sun came running towards her, not that he was eager to start their date…
Ellie felt tears brimming to the surface, but pushed them down, firm and hard. Jae-Sun had shown barely any interest in her since the date had started, and all he had shown any interest in were the disappearances. She felt like turning around and heading home, but the questions kept burning on her mind, and if the two of them weren’t going to work out, at least she could try and get some answers…
“What were you doing with Charles and the others earlier?” Ellie asked, as innocently as she could manage. Jae-Sun stiffened, if ever so slightly. Ellie recognised the look: the same her father had when he’d been called out for visiting the pub on the way home after work. “I didn’t realise the two of you knew each other,” she added, subtly. 
“Oh, he was just asking me for a vape,” he answered.
“But he doesn’t vape…” Ellie pressed.
Jae-Sun shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t know why he asked then,” he said, laughing. He pulled out his phone and pretended to check his messages. “I’m really sorry, I’m going to have to go.” He flashed his phone at her, quickly, not fast enough for her to see. “I’m needed back home — looks like we’ve had a leak.”
“Oh,” said Ellie, feeling betrayed and insulted in equal measure. 
Jae-Sun pushed his hands in his pockets, and started to jog back towards the store. “I’ll see you around sometime,” he called back. 
“Sure,” said Ellie, as despair grasped her tight. 
She watched Jae-Sun race back along the riverside, not looking back once. Ellie let forth a single sob, not for their lost romance, but how duplicitous he had been. Were all men like this? She was certainly beginning to think so. 
Ellie took out her phone, and saw a text from Maddy saying, “How did it go?” 
At that the dam broke, and the tears came forth in waves. Time to give up the ghost, she told herself, as she had on so many other occasions. Once again she would put aside her happiness, and throw herself into work. She sniffed. The same workplace as Jae-Sun, where things would inevitably be awkward.
Step by whimpering step, Ellie began her sorrowsome walk back home, wondering whether she had it in her to call Maddy without snotting up her phone. In the end, she decided it was almost a certainty. Besides, she already knew what Maddy would say: “Forget about him, hold your head high, and slag him off to everyone who’ll listen.”
Ellie laughed, despite herself. Even when she wasn’t here, Maddy had a way of cheering her up. 
Then a thought struck her, a thought she found more troubling than her love life. Why was Jae-Sun so interested in those who went missing? Her first thought was that he was behind it; indeed, he was linked to the missing shoplifter. But no, it didn’t make sense, not if he was asking so many questions about those who had gone missing. 
Was he an undercover detective? Possibly, she thought, but not a very good one. Most people who worked undercover at least tried to remain undercover. Jae-Sun was about as blunt as a blunderbuss. 
But what did that leave? 
All Ellie knew was that she would find no answers tonight. But tomorrow was another matter entirely…

Next Aisle: Chapter 9