Walk Away

Chapter 1

1

The smell of chlorine was strong. The screams of kids splashing around in the pool was noisy. Kim Yunjin stuck a homemade A5 flyer to the noticeboard. She pinned it fast and stood back to read the copy. Doubtless the wording wasn’t perfect. With no discernible education, she spoke far better than she wrote in English. Yet the offer was clear. Acupuncture sessions: £40.

Yunjin hoped the advert would work. Local business owners she knew had been kind enough to place flyers inside their shops, pubs and takeaways. She’d also been lucky enough to practice her new skills with free sessions for friends and paid work in Chinatown.

But she wanted to go out on her own. To establish her own business that would provide a more stable income for her and Ji-min. She had spent most of her savings on her acupuncture training, so this had to work.

Yunjin nodded to herself, happy with the flyer. As she walked off along the corridor, she didn't notice the man behind her, tearing the flyer from the wall.

With the flyers posted around Hulme and Chinatown, Yunjin walked to the local primary school. It was a mild September day. The afternoon sun warm on her back. Summer had ended and Ji-min had begun her first year in primary school. It had taken more getting used to for Yunjin than her daughter, who loved everything about her new school.

And she was eager to tell her mum about all the exciting things she’d learned as she met her at the gates. Mother and daughter strolled home together, Ji-min in pig tails and a hooded pink coat, with a small rucksack on her back almost as big as her.

They stopped to pick up supplies for Korean pancakes, one of Ji-min’s favourites. Plus, seeing as it was Friday, a bag of popcorn for their movie night.

They ate the pancakes at the kitchen table in Yunjin’s modest rented apartment. It sat on the first floor of a converted council house.

June, the elderly neighbour below was hard of hearing. She treated Ji-min like a granddaughter. So Yunjin treated June like a grandmother in return, taking her shopping every Monday.

The modest apartment was a vast improvement on some of her previous homes. Yet she wanted somewhere bigger. For Ji-min to have her own room, rather than the two of them having to share a double bed. Not to mention a little outside space where her daughter could play. A more secure environment would be better, too. There had been a spate of break-ins lately, including homeless drug addicts forcing their way into the building.

She had every sympathy for them, but her daughter's safety had to come first.

The acupuncture business would help her move somewhere better. And Yunjin didn’t have to wait long for her first customer. At 9am Saturday morning, her phone rang.

It was a pleasant, friendly man called Bill. He’d seen her advert in the leisure centre and was having a problem with a stiff, sore shoulder.

“How soon could you fit me in?” Bill asked.

“You're in luck, I’ve just had a cancellation,” Yunjin replied, pretending to be busy. “How about midday?”

“Oh, you're a lifesaver," Bill said, "I'll see you then."

Yunjin gave Bill her address. She cleaned the apartment and pushed the furniture aside, creating extra space in the living room. Yunjin set up the second-hand treatment table she’d found cheap on eBay and prepared for the session. She tied back her long, black hair and dressed in dark trousers, a white blouse and thin, cream cardigan.

She set Ji-min up in the bedroom with a lunch of sandwiches, crisps, a banana and a juice.

“Mum’s got a client coming round, so you’ll have to be quiet for an hour,” Yunjin said. She handed Ji-min the tablet she used to keep her daughter occupied. “Okay sweetie, what do you want to watch?”

“Frozen!”

"Again?"

Ji-min must have watched the film a thousand times, but if it kept her happy and quiet, who cared? Yunjin plugged a pair of headphones into the tablet and slipped them over Ji-min’s ears.

She turned up the volume as Ji-min bit into a sandwich.

“Good girl,” Yunjin said, kissing her daughter on the forehead. “Love you.”

“Love you, Mum,” Ji-min said, eyes glued to the tablet.

Yunjin pulled the bedroom door closed as the intercom buzzed. She checked her appearance in the bathroom mirror. Slim, pretty and very few signs of ageing, even into her late thirties. She picked up the intercom and let the customer into the building.

Yunjin opened the door to the apartment and waited for her very first client. Bill clomped up the brown-carpeted stairs in a pair of black-soled boots and ripped blue jeans. He was six-foot and rangy, wearing a green bomber jacket over a black t-shirt. A bulbous head, bald and greying hair shaved close. His rat-like features showed the wear of his years. Eyes tired and crooked teeth a nicotine-yellow.

But Yunjin wasn’t concerned with the man’s appearance. Only what she could do to help. And besides, Bill appeared as friendly as he'd sounded on the phone. Smiling and saying hello in a broad Mancunian accent.

Yunjin welcomed him in. He followed her through into the living room.

“I’m in between clinics,” Yunjin lied. “I hope you don’t mind the temporary arrangement.”

“Not at all, love,” Bill said, feeling his left shoulder.

“Is that the bad one?” Yunjin asked.

“Yeah,” Bill said with a grimace. "Been giving me jip all week."

“Well, let’s see what we can do,” Yunjin said. “Do you want to remove your jacket?”

Bill slipped out of his coat. He handed it to Yunjin. She hung it on a peg in the hallway and returned to the living room.

“You speak good English for a foreigner," Bill said.

Yunjin thought nothing of the comment. “I’ve been here for many years." She laughed. "When I first came, my English was terrible."

“You like it here?” Bill asked.

“I love it,” Yunjin said, with her usual beaming smile.

“I bet you do,” Bill said, with a snort.

Yunjin thought it a strange thing to say and didn't appreciate his change in tone. Yet she motioned to the treatment table. “Do you want to sit down?”

Bill didn’t budge. He looked around the room. “You live alone, eh?”

“Yes,” Yunjin said, not wanting to mention Ji-min’s presence in the next room. She felt unprofessional enough as it was.

“Good,” Bill said, “then we won’t be disturbed, will we?”

“Uh, no,” Yunjin said, an alarming feeling in her gut. “Take a seat and I’ll get the needles.”

“No need for that,” Bill said, a hand behind his back.

Yunjin hesitated. “Sorry?”

Bill pulled a small hunting knife from the waist of his jeans. He grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, a grip like steel. All sense of humanity disappeared from his dark eyes. “Scream and I’ll cut out your f*****g heart, you yellow f*****g bitch.”