"Kookie, would you be extra quiet today?" V laced his fingers into a lattice as he stared at me across the table, eyes round and doting. "I'm having a guest over later."
"O-Okay." I couldn't help but wonder about what he meant about that. A fellow self-proclaimed alien? A friend? A family member? A lover?
No, I told myself. He wouldn't do that. I said that I loved him, and he loves me.
But we sure didn't act like we loved each other. The last time we had kissed was when I had kissed him to diffuse a threatening situation, and that was long ago. He'd returned to providing for my needs to survive, but that wasn't exactly loving. That was just necessary for life.
"Good. Are you done eating?"
I glanced at my empty plate, scraped clean of my dinner of rice and fish, and nodded. V sighed and gathered everything back into his tray and climbed up the stairs to the ground floor. The door shut behind him, and I lay my head on the table.
"I'm so confused," I groaned into the furniture, my voice muffled by the solidity. "What does he want from me?"
I heard the doorbell ring--a high-pitched trill. Over time, I had gotten accustomed to hearing from the basement, and I could now have a notion about what was happening on the first floor. V's light footsteps trotted over the where the door was, which was above my refrigerator, and the door opened. I didn't hear any conversation, and I wondered what was happening. Two sets of footsteps trodded closer to the area above my bed, and I heard the quiet squeak of the sofa, signaling that they had sat down.
It was silent for a few minutes, but then I heard a moan out of nowhere, deep and resonating. I had to strain my ears to make sure that I had actually heard it, but it came again, louder than before. That voice was unmistakably V's.
What? I thought to myself, my face burning with embarrassment. What am I hearing?
A few seconds later, I heard another, but it was higher in pitch, and lasted much longer. It was a girl's. V's voice sounded once more, this time, in unison with the girl's.
Was I listening to V having sex?
I felt the blood rush to my face immediately, and my ears buzzed. I felt the ends of my limbs go cold with shock, and I had never felt more uncomfortable in my life. There was something in my chest that threatened to explode, and before I knew it, I found myself covering my ears with my hands and squeezing my eyes shut, tears getting forced out as I did. I just couldn't bring myself to listen, but I didn't have to. V made sure of that.
I felt the room vibrate around me in a steady rhythm, the walls shuddering in tempo, and I felt like screaming and shooting the ceiling in an attempt to stop what was happening around me. It kept going, though, and I couldn't do anything to intervene. If I tried causing a commotion, who knows what would happen. V had already warned me, and I didn't want to royally piss him off.
Never would I have thought that this was how I'd have my first heartbreak.
After what seemed like an eternity, the rocking stopped, and I dared to uncover my ears. I scampered to the door, back handing tears, and waited. Who was she? Would V come downstairs to check on me?
"How much?" I heard V's husky voice mutter quietly.
"That'll be thirty-thousand won," replied the female's, smooth and cool. I heard footsteps lead to the front door, which shut soon after.
I gaped at nothing in particular. That was a hooker? It dawned on me that maybe he wanted me to find out. He could've done it in his room, but he'd conveniently chosen the sofa directly above the basement.
