I came home every night after practice sessions with the hyungs at the studio to my small apartment in a quiet part of town. I liked it here. It was serene and silent and no one else lived on this floor. Best place for me to dwell in my own thoughts. We were working on our schedules, yet to debut. Having to deal with all the music and choreography, I had paused on college. Therefore, I had somehow paused on social life. After every hectic day, this quiet was what I yearned for.

My apartment was fairly large. The only probable flaw of it was that it was old. That never bothered me because all the fresh wallpapers and Minseok hyong’s homely touches had done a good job in camouflaging this into the perfect bachelor pad. Another flaw was that the wall of my bedroom was the wall of the bedroom of the adjacent apartment. And it was wooden. It meant that only a thin sheet of old wood separated the two apartments. But that, too, never bothered me, given that I didn’t have neighbors.

The landlord lived on the ground floor and was a wifeless old man who kept to himself. He never bothered. I sometimes would check in on him, to see if he needed anything or maybe just to make sure he wasn’t dead. But that was about it. I didn’t know much about the other people in the lower floors. I occasionally would just spot someone while going down the stairs and we would awkwardly bow to each other and be on with our lives.

Everything was perfect. I got my happy place, I got my privacy, life couldn’t have been more peaceful. Until all went down the drain that one Friday night when I came home from work.

It had been drizzling outside and the rain always annoyed me. I somewhat stumbled into my apartment, skipping Jongin’s proposal to go and grab some drinks. The silence immediately calmed each throbbing nerve in my system, putting me to peace. I sprawled myself on bed and kicked my shoes off. Then I heard it.

A hushed, negligibly audible yet hearable, tiny moan.

I told myself it was a cat. Somewhere around here was a dumpster and it wouldn’t be surprising.

But then I heard it again.

Another moan.

I stared up at the ceiling, trying to think. A cat. Maybe a wounded cat.

“Oh my God, I am not okay with this position—,” moaned a female voice.

I flipped up into a shocked sitting position, trying not to panic. As I listened closely, the noises were coming from the other side of the walls.

I hadn’t been told someone was moving in, so it kind of pissed me off. But I was too tired to be pissed, so I told myself to everything and just go to bed.

But the moans became louder.

“I can’t do this..”

“Oww…”

“OH MY GOD—“

I couldn’t take it anymore.

After months of my happy place and silence, I wasn’t ready for some , noisy neighbor who didn’t have a clue that I could hear her from across the walls. She needed to be told about the thin walls and she needed to keep it down. And I needed some shut-eye.

I barged out the front door and slammed my fist against the next door entrance. Then it hit me. What if it was some frustrated woman undergoing midlife crisis in a pink fluffy nightie who was trying to make the best of her weekend?

What if it was a MILF?

, Oh Se Hun. What have you done? You’re not ready to deal with this yet. When was the last time you were with a woman….

And then slowly, all noises inside the apartment stopped. And I heard footsteps. Then the door opened.