«I have never been married, I have no children, but I am at the right age for these roles. You have to do not what I am good at, but what I am capable of. I think that such work is an advancement and a challenge. to yourself, whether you get bad reviews or not.»

      From the author’s interview with the actor

      REFRIGERATOR EMPTY POTS ARE COLD. IT’S TIME TO LOOK FOR A HOUSEKEEPER

      This morning, Kunqiu again thought that he had run out of milk in the refrigerator and had not eaten the homemade food prepared by his beloved housekeeper, Mrs. O.

      The housekeeper who took care of him for ten years left him a month and a half ago.

      No, nothing terrible happened, just time, which spares no one, has reached Aunt O. For more than ten years, an elderly woman and a famous actor lived in perfect harmony. Very often, the aunt even stayed overnight at the actor’s house when her back hurt and it was hard for her to get home. She had her own room on the first floor. Auntie held on as long as she could, but time, as I said, takes its toll. A month and a half ago, my daughter took Aunt Oh to Busan. At parting, the actor made a generous gift to his aunt. He was in no hurry to look for a new housekeeper, because he was planning a big tour in Japan, but because of the coronavirus, everything went up and down and the tour was canceled. And now the time has come to think about who will help him to manage the household in the future. The most ideal would be if he could get married, and his wife would take care of all the issues related to everyday life, but the question of marriage was a painful issue.

      Kunqiu stopped the treadmill, lay down on the floor and thought, he realized that finding the right woman to do the housework was hard enough. Laws, rules, barriers, other people’s views, closed doors, classified information, journalists who always poke their nose into his affairs – all this required being very careful. Even if he were an ordinary person, and not an actor, even then he would be afraid to bring a stranger, an unknown woman into his house, well, and in this situation he had to be very careful. Kunqiu understood that he could not make such an important decision himself, but would it be possible to dream?

      A few hours later, his manager was informed that it was time to start looking for a new housekeeper. Age in this choice did not really matter, but the actor did not like to part with those to whom he was accustomed and therefore asked to find a woman of 30—45 years old, who would still be far from decrepitude and retirement. There was one more thing, one more requirement, the housekeeper candidate should not be a Kunqiu fan. Kunqiu genuinely loved his fans, but preferred to love them from a distance. Not that he had anything to hide, but the thought that a woman would appear in the house, who would spy on and eavesdrop, climb where she should not, terrified him. I think you now understand why the actor spent a month and a half driving away from himself the thought of a new housekeeper.

      Kunqiu loved his home, but he had little time to seriously engage in everyday life, the work took all the time, sometimes, when the filming schedule was especially stressful, he stayed overnight at the studio or at the hotel, he simply did not have the strength to go home.

      In the end, there were three candidates left in the selection process. All three women had a solid track record, all three were over forty, all three denied being Kunqiu fans, and…

      Kunqiu flipped through all three resumes and found another one under the stack. It turns out that there was also a fourth candidate, her resume was quite short, it did not take even a page, but probably something interested his manager in this candidate, otherwise Kunqiu would not have read her resume now. The actor also tried to delve into what was written, but the lines blurred before his eyes. Still, the actor hasn’t slept for three nights. This was the time of the month when he could not sleep. Rather, he was asleep, but his sleep was shallow, he woke up endlessly, usually by three o’clock in the morning he stopped fighting and went to drink coffee. It would be possible to leave the care of choosing a housekeeper to the manager, but the woman who remains in the selection process will have to work in Kunqiu’s kitchen, clean his bedroom, wash and iron his linen. That is why Kunqiu understood that it was he who had to make the choice. He wished that with the departure of Aunt Oh, his housekeeper, the quiet times were over.

      The fourth candidate who wanted to be his housekeeper was really unusual. She was Korean but lived in Hong Kong and Tokyo for twenty years and only recently returned to Korea. Judging by the resume, Ms. Li followed her stepfather, who was a famous pianist, with her mother. Ms. Li lost her father at the age of seven. The woman even got excellent

      e education at one of the universities in America. It was not clear why, having such outstanding data, she decided to go to work as a housekeeper. Nothing was stated about this in the resume. Ms. Li said she would tell the employer if she was hired. After returning from Hong Kong, the woman lived with her maternal grandparents. Looking at the photo that was pasted on the resume, Kunqiu thought that the face in the photo was so young that he just couldn’t help calling Ms. Li a grown woman. The manager attached a note to the resume. After reading it, Kunqiu understood what the manager was interested in this girl. If you believe what the girl said, she never saw a single film with Kunqiu, or heard his songs, because she lived a lot of time abroad. The girl had little experience as a housekeeper, she worked in only two families, but if Kunqiu wants to take her, she can be assigned a probationary period. Kunqiu hesitated, the main goal of the housekeeper is order and comfort in the house, can Ms. Li be able to do this? Thoughts were confused and Kunqiu decided to leave the resume on the table for now, he wanted to make the final decision in the morning, but his sleep left him after three in the morning, and he trudged off to the kitchen. The resume lay on the kitchen table. The top summary in the pile was Ms. Li’s summary.

      Looking at the photo, Kunqiu thought that his curiosity was a little piqued, he wanted to know something about the girl, in addition to what she wrote. A week passed and finally the manager brought the girl.

      Kunqiu did not like awkward situations and therefore during the conversation he only smiled encouragingly and inserted short remarks into the manager’s explanations. The girl clearly and boldly looked into the eyes of Kunqiu, in those eyes there was no servility and delight of worshiping an idol. Kunqiu truly believed that Ms. Li had never seen any of his roles in films. The girl asked sensible questions, laughed in the right places, answered directly to the questions posed, that is, made a good impression.

      Something confused Kunqiu, but he decided that it was due to the fact that the girl is young and sweet. But when the meeting ended, Kunqiu remembered the hairpin that he saw in the girl’s beautiful hair, and it seemed to him that he had once seen a similar hairpin in the girl’s hair, the memories of which were unpleasant and embarrassing to him.

      However, on reflection, Kunqiu decided it was just a coincidence. Once upon a time, Kunqiu passionately loved that girl, and a hairpin in the hair of a strange girl stirred up memories. There was no filming today, it was that rare day when there was no need to go anywhere, you could just stare mindlessly into the fire of the fireplace, or even pour a quarter of a glass of expensive wine and inhale its thick aroma, reminiscent of love and summer. However, after drinking the wine, Kunqiu winced, it seemed to him bitter, the memories were to blame. Remembering the girl who was left in the past, Kunqiu became agitated. Taking out an album with old photos, he tried to find their