The Slut Upstairs
The office was quiet the next day. In the conference room Seo Yu-jin called me Assistant Manager, and even when she took the revised quote she wouldn't meet my eyes. Only at the end of the email was there one extra period. The umbrella was still in my entryway—not because it hadn't dried, but because I hadn't shaken it out.
Overtime ended at eight. The rain had stopped. I punched in the code and stepped inside, and the black umbrella was still standing beside the shoe cabinet. The panties I'd meant to put away were lying on top of the drawer. I picked them up and shoved them in. The wet mark was already sunk into the wood.
I'd showered and was toweling nothing but my hair when the ceiling spoke. A chair dragged. Then water. The same length as last night. I glanced up once and stopped short of cracking a beer. The doorbell rang.
"Yes?"
The woman outside was in slippers. Upstairs. I knew the name—a package had come down to the wrong floor once. Jeong Ha-neul. Twenty-nine. Third floor of the same building; I was on the second. Her hair was wet and stuck to her shoulders, and pajama pants showed beneath a gray sweatshirt. An empty cup sat in her hands.
"Um, you're the second-floor guy, right? The water—the pressure's no good. Could I fill this for just a second?"
For an excuse, the cup was far too clean. I opened the door. Soap smell entered the narrow entry first, the smell of someone who'd quit a shower halfway through.
"Come in. There's a sink. I'm Kang Gun-woo."
"Jeong Ha-neul. Third floor. Last night the wall was kind of loud. No—the water really was weak. It's only half a lie."
My ears went hot at that. Ha-neul slipped off her shoes and swept the entry once. The light came on, and the narrow hall showed itself. Her gaze stopped on the black umbrella.
"A woman's umbrella. That noise last night—this apartment, right? I'm not here to scold you. I couldn't sleep. And the water."
At the sink she made a show of filling the cup, then poured the water out. She pushed her sleeve up, shut off the tap, and looked back. The nape of her neck was wet.
"You live alone, right? I saw it on the delivery name. One man. But last night it was a woman's voice. Moaning. Very clearly."
"So you heard."
"You made enough noise to be heard. I listened with the sound killed, like a pervert. I didn't come down to get angry. I came to check."
The distance closed by a step. There was no line of underwear under the sweatshirt. Just sleepwear. I took the cup and set it in the sink. Our fingers overlapped. Her hand was warm.
"Is that woman coming today too?"
"Not today. She said only when it rains."
"Then the upstairs neighbor can come today, right? Your place. Mine has nothing but the sound of water."
A refusal climbed as far as my throat, and then Ha-neul caught the edge of my towel first. Fresh from the shower, I had nothing on but pants. She looked down at that and laughed low.
"Already reacting. Thinking about what you heard yesterday? Or me?"
"Both, I think. Hah—"
Mouths met first. No lip balm. Toothpaste. Her tongue slipped in briefly, then caught my lower lip and held. I took her by the waist. Under the sweatshirt was bare skin. Her back was hot, and moisture still clung in toward her armpit.
"Mm. Your hand's cold. But I like it. Lock the door. I came down without locking the third floor. Lock only yours."
The moment I locked it, Ha-neul pulled the sweatshirt off. Her breasts were small, the nipples already standing, a deep pink. Wet hair stuck to her collarbone. I set one in my palm and rolled it under my thumb.
"Ah—not hard. Soft, then pinch. Haa. The left. Mm, your mouth too. I wanted to try the sounds that woman made yesterday."
"Hn. Small. But hard. Your nipple catches on my tongue."
When I wrapped it and sucked, Ha-neul seized my hair. The moan came high. She didn't hold it back.
"Aah, haa, suck. Teeth, light. Hn, good. You can make noise. Yesterday I was the one listening. Today I'm going to make it in your place. Mm, haa."
I undid the tie of her pajama pants. No underwear. The hair was trimmed short, and the center was already wet, slick spread all the way to her thighs. When I parted her with my fingers, Ha-neul grabbed the rim of the sink.
"Ah—don't start there. No, do. Haa, don't press the clit straight on. Push the flesh aside. Yeah, that. Mm, it tickles. The good kind. Don't stop."
"Hah, you're already slippery. I can hear it. And here I thought you were just the woman upstairs."
"The woman upstairs got wet in front of your door. Weird, right. I know. Ah—finger. One. Slow."
One went in and the inside clenched at once. I waited a beat, then worked in the second. When I pressed the front wall, Ha-neul threw her head back.
"Haaah, there. You know it? That spot. Mm, don't scrape—press. Aah, I feel it from behind my belly. Haa, haa. Your fingers are long. I remember the hand that took the package. That hand is inside me right now."
"Nnh, you're squeezing. Only two in and it's hot all the way to my wrist."
I rolled the top with my thumb while I pressed the front wall, and Ha-neul drove her forehead into my shoulder. The moan split inside her throat.
"I'm coming. Aah, fast. I held it all the way down here. Haaah, Gun-woo. I know your name. The package. Mmm, don't pull out. I can come on your fingers. Then put it in right away. Aaaah."
Her insides wrung my fingers. Her thighs closed and opened, and her slick soaked my wrist. Through the aftershocks I shoved my pants down. I was already up, hard enough to ache. Ha-neul looked down and closed her hand around me.
"Big. Haa, hot. So this is what last night's noise was. Mm, it's throbbing. This is the point—more than the water cup I left upstairs. I know. Call me a pervert."
"Hah, your hand's warm. Don't rub the tip. I'll come right now. Nnh."
"Then put it in. Standing. Your sink. Leave my place for filling water."
I bent her hips against the sink and lifted one leg. The moment I set the head at her entrance, wet flesh bit down. Halfway in, Ha-neul clawed my back.
"Ah, big. Wait. Haaah. You're splitting me. Mm, slow. I'll sit down to the root myself. Aah, press my stomach. Good. Deep."
"Hnn, you're hot. Tight. Only half in and it won't come back out. Hah."
When the rest went in, Ha-neul swallowed her breath. Her insides writhed and mouthed the shaft. The corner of the sink dug into her thigh. I drew out and drove back in like that, and the wet sound overlapped the drip from the faucet.
"Haa, haah, there. Angle up. Ah—that. It's not a bed, so you don't reach it. Use your hand too. Mm, haa. Pound me. As much as I heard yesterday. Aah."
"Hah, hah. The flesh is sucking me in. Ha-neul, your insides are talking. Squeezing."
I rolled the top with my thumb and picked up speed. Her breasts were small, so they barely shook; only the nipples stood hard and caught in my mouth. When I sucked, she clenched once more.
"Gun-woo. Talk dirty. Ah. The upstairs girl's getting fucked in your place. Water for an excuse. Haaah. Say I'm the bitch who came down without panties. Mm, I like that. Aah."
"You opened my door with no panties on. Hah. You've swallowed me to the root. The cup was the excuse. This was the point. Nnh."
"Haaah, that. Again. Stop. No—don't stop. I'm coming. Aah, you can come inside. I'm on the pill. Just today. Mmm, deep. Let me feel it coming out. Haa, haa."
"I'm coming too. Hah, you're squeezing so hard I can't pull out. Inside. Nnh."
I drove in to the hilt and stayed there. While I came, Ha-neul hauled my neck into her arms. The moan climbed, then wore itself down into breath. In the aftershocks she was still biting, and when I pulled out, white ran down her thigh and dropped as far as the sink cabinet.
"Haa, it came out. Hot. It's falling on your floor. Mm. Wipe it. No—push it back in with your fingers. Mm."
I did as I was told, swept up what had spilled, and worked it shallowly back inside. Ha-neul closed her eyes and laughed low.
"Filthy. I don't hate it. I'm going up to the third floor to touch myself again. Knocking on your ceiling while I do. Haa."
Once wasn't the end of it. Seeing I was still half hard, Ha-neul went to my bed first. My sheets. The sheets I hadn't washed of last night's marks. She got on her stomach and dropped her waist.
"It smells here. A woman. That person from yesterday? Mm. I don't care. Do it on top of that. Hard. Grab my hair. Haaah, I'm already open."
"Hah, that's right. Yesterday, right here. And now you're face-down in the same spot. Nnh, it goes in all at once."
When I sank in to the root, the bed struck the wall. The third floor—the floor of her room—was on the other side of it. Ha-neul didn't bury her face in the pillow.
"Aah, deep. Flat on my stomach it reaches further. Haa, the angle. I'm rubbing on those sheets. Good. Mm, talk. Tell me what I'm like. Haa, haa."
"Tight. Hah. Squeezing on top of where I came yesterday. That upstairs ass stuck to my stomach, shaking. Nnh."
"Pervert. More. Aah, hard. Leave marks on my thighs. I'll cover them with pajamas tomorrow. Haaah, coming again. Inside again. Don't pull out. Mmm."
I came inside the second time too. Ha-neul dropped her waist and took it. When I pulled out, two loads overlapped on my sheets—hers laid over last night's mark.
"Haa. My legs are gone. You can pull out. Mm. I'll leave the cup. So I can use the water excuse again. Don't touch the umbrella. That's that woman's. I'll come with the cup."
She left the cup in the sink and opened the door in nothing but the sweatshirt. There had been no underwear from the start. Slippers climbed the stairs and stopped on the third floor. Then a chair dragged. A sound made on purpose.
I looked from the black umbrella in the entry to the empty cup in the sink and back again. The panties in the drawer were exactly as they'd been. If it rained tomorrow, Yu-jin would come. If the water ran, Ha-neul would come. Tonight both of their marks were on the same sheets.
I lay down and stared at the ceiling. The water didn't stop. On purpose, and for a long time.