The nights when Aeri brought Alan home were a quiet kind of torture, the kind that settled deep in my chest and refused to let go.
Alan, her boyfriend, was a constant shadow, his flashy smile and cocky attitude grating on me. I knew he didn't deserve her, but Aeri was smitten, her eyes sparkling whenever he was around, and I was just a kid in her orbit, nursing feelings I couldn't voice.
I curled up on the room bed, the thin mattress creaking under me, the pillow pressed against my ears as I tried to block out the sounds from her bedroom down the hall. The walls were too thin, the apartment too small, and Aeri's moans cut through the quiet like a knife.
"Ahh… ahh… yeahh… fuck me more, Alan…" her voice came, raw and breathless, each word a punch to my gut.
I squeezed my eyes shut, my fists clenching the sheets, willing myself to fall asleep, to escape, but it was no use.
