CHAPTER 1 #2
Elena sighed and looked into the distance. When her eyes met Aidan’s again, he clicked his tongue and said, “Okay. Okay! I know… I have fired our staff too many times. But it’s not my fault.”
Aidan took a deep breath, remembering their faces. He already mentioned this to Elena – that their two new maids were shifty. He read people too well to be fooled so easily, and for this reason he followed them on cameras. When his detective hunch got confirmed, he knew what had to be done.
“I’m sorry I was unable to hire someone trustworthy. During the interview, they seemed very polite, and I dare say– nice,” Elena added.
“It’s fine. Nothing happened. They will not come back.” Aidan narrowed his eyes and took another sip.
“But I’m not doing this anymore,” Elena declared all of a sudden.
Aidan froze and gave her a questioning look. “What do you mean?”
“I will send you a new list of candidates. You will choose who to hire.”
Aidan raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”
Elena looked at him without flinching. They stared at each other without words, until Aidan spoke up, “This… sounds like fun.” He gave her a sour smile, deciding not to complain. He had already given her enough headaches firing all the maids they had hired in the last couple of months.
Elena smiled, her face revealing content. “I’ll put the ad up tonight.”
***
Min-Jun opened his laptop and was determined to find a new job when his phone rang.
“Mom?”
“Hi, dear. How are you doing? How’s work?”
Min-Jun froze. He had kind of expected her to ask, but he hadn’t prepared his answer. He decided to keep it a secret for a while, hoping he would find a job soon enough.
“It’s going fine.” Min-Jun nervously laughed, and quickly added, “Tell me how you and dad are doing?”
“We’re also okay.”
Min-Jun held his breath. He knew it wasn’t the absolute truth; his parents struggled a lot with money and while he was away, it hadn’t changed for the better. He can’t count on them helping him with his situation, or better to say, his mother helping him.
“Is dad still mad at me?”
He heard his mother take a deep breath. “He still thinks you’ll come to your senses. One day.”
He can dream about that. It’s not like I’ll suddenly start liking girls, no matter how much I wish I could.
Min-Jun bit his lip when his mother interrupted his train of thoughts, “Also, I need to share a secret with you.”
“What is it?”
“I think Ha-Eun got a boyfriend,” his mother said in a low voice.
“What? No way! She’s still too young.”
“She hasn’t admitted it, so I don’t know for sure.”
“You need to be careful, Momma.”
His younger sister was only seventeen.
I wish I could be there to protect her. Ha-Jun is still too young to protect his older sister.
When they finished, Min-Jun put his phone away and ran his hands over his face.
He pulled his laptop closer to him and began scrolling through the job ads from top to bottom.
He found the offers similar to his previous jobs; it seemed like he would end up stuck in a cafe or fast-food restaurant again.
Great…
He decided to adjust his search, and when he pressed enter, a list of new job offers appeared on the screen. He scrolled down when one offer caught his attention. It wasn’t really the type of job that piqued his interest, but the salary attached to it did.
MAID WANTED
He’d never thought of working as a maid, but seeing the ad made him reconsider the possibility.
Why have I never thought about this before? A third of the salary would go towards rent, meaning in only a few months I could save enough to quit and look for a more suited job if I didn’t like it there.
“Hm…”
Min-Jun clicked on the ad to read all the details. Full time and part time, and they were looking for two maids – that was the most important part for Min-Jun; he preferred to work part time. Also, it wasn’t an ad for a company or a hotel, but for someone’s private house.
That shouldn’t be an issue. If the family is nice, there shouldn’t be any problems. Right?
Min-Jun didn’t plan to cause trouble for anyone, but still, in the back of his mind, a question arose: Could I do this kind of job?
Min-Jun was a clean person and loved tidiness. Sometimes cleaning was even relaxing for him, and he cleaned when he was upset.
I’m not afraid of cleaning. This should be easy.
But insecurity and doubt began to settle in anyway.
They probably wouldn’t consider hiring a man.
Min-Jun sighed and scrolled further.
I should forget it. I don’t have a chance.
He looked at other job ads, while trying not to think about the last one, sending a few applications to other places even when the offers weren’t interesting enough.
Min-Jun thought a little bit more about that particular opportunity and scrolled to the top to read the advertisement again.
He made sure once more that nothing unusual was required – just the cleaning of the house and occasional serving.
The way the ad was written, simple and clear, gave Min-Jun a sense of comfort.
He drummed his fingers on the table as he thought about what to do.
I have nothing to lose.
He stared at the screen for a while then grabbed his phone and dialed the number.