From the adjacent room comes the sound of a woman moaning. An awkward feeling hovers between the woman and me. At times like this, I wonder why the act of love was created to be accompanied by noise. Couldn’t the human body have been made more pliable, so that the intimate act could be undertaken in silence? I feel as if the creaking noise is causing cracks between us. I wish I could go next door and oil up the couple’s bodies. I’m well aware, of course, that there’s no pleasure without pain. Perhaps it’s noise that allows pain to turn into pleasure, and pleasure into pain. The moaning next
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