沈川

Five years in this trade taught me to keep my hands warm and my heart cold. Then the woman in Room 3 started booking only me, week after week. I worked on her for two months, and held back for two months, until the line I had guarded for five years finally stood at its edge.

Three years as a trainer, I have seen every kind of member, except her. Her sessions are always at nine, and we train until the gym closes at ten, till it is just the two of us. Lift, press, stretch, every move a tightrope.

A house-call order at midnight, the note just a few words: insomnia, male therapist only. I told myself I was there to work. But the loneliness in the eyes of the woman who opened the door, and shoulders knotted stiff as welded iron, made these hands, after five years of massage, cross a line for the first time.