Please Forget Me - Chapter 136
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.
read more chapters on luna kofi
“I hope the task of protecting me never ends for you.”
“You’re saying scary things.”
Johann laughed softly and kissed me. It felt as though I had never hated him, never distrusted him—only gratitude and trust now filled my heart.
Thankfully, that night, the Major did not come for us. The next morning, we left the house earlier than the usual time the truck came to pick me up.
Johann had to go to work so we wouldn’t starve, but he didn’t want to leave me alone at home, fearing I might be taken while he was gone. So, I had no choice but to go with him to the school.
Johann went into the principal’s office alone to explain the situation and ask for permission, but it didn’t take long before he came out again.
People here are as diligent and chatty as early birds. It seemed the principal had already heard about the disturbance from the night before, as the news had spread quickly throughout the village as soon as dawn broke.
“Mrs. Renner, you’re always welcome at our school. If you ever get bored, feel free to visit the principal’s office.”
The principal kindly allowed me to stay in the storage room attached to Johann’s classroom while he worked. Though it was just a storage room, it had windows that let in the sunlight, and the principal had moved a sofa from the teachers’ lounge to make it comfortable.
Most importantly, no one could enter the classroom without passing through Johann’s classroom, which I found comforting.
During the day, no one came to look for me, whether it was the Major or a soldier. I began to relax as long as I was at the school, but the moment we had to leave, the tension would return. Even seeing a passing military truck made my body tense. Our once humble but cozy home now felt like a haunted house.
Could Johann be afraid to go home, too? For the past few days, instead of going home, he had been going to the church and staying there until just before the evening roll call. During that time, he would often stand in front of the altar, staring at the cross, deep in thought, or he would pray with his hands clasped, as if seeking an answer. Was there even an answer for us?
“I won’t let you go if the Major calls for you in the morning anymore.”
Johann had been prepared to defy the mobilization order, but after that day, the Major stopped calling for me in the mornings. I wondered if we had been lucky to avoid him. But when I asked Mrs. Becker, she said the military hadn’t come looking for us since then.
‘Strange. The Major wouldn’t just let things be.’
An ominous feeling grew in my chest, and as time passed, instead of feeling more at ease, I only grew more anxious.
On the fifth morning of hiding in the school, someone knocked on the window of the storage room from outside. The face visible through the thin lace curtain was that of a Corporal who drove the truck every morning to pick up the workers.
“Mrs. Renner, just a moment…”
He knew I was here. I jumped in surprise, dropping the sewing project I had been holding. I quickly stood up, intending to run to the classroom where Johann was, but the Corporal, looking flustered, hurriedly explained through the loose crack in the window.
“Madam, I’m not here to take you to the bunker. Sergeant Hoffman asked me to deliver something, and I’ve come to do an errand.”
Not the Major, but Sergeant Hoffman?
“So, could you open the window just a little?”
“I’ll call my husband.”
“Oh, please don’t trouble yourself with that.”
I had been heading for the door when I saw the Corporal slip a small piece of paper through the crack in the window. It was a ration coupon.
“Sergeant Hoffman asked you to deliver this ration coupon to me?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“I don’t need it. Please take it back.”
The ration coupon, which the Major gave to women who sold their bodies as payment, made me uncomfortable, and I didn’t want to accept it. As the Corporal wiggled the coupon through the window and I glared at him without taking it, he seemed nearly desperate.
“Please, accept it. I mean no harm, and I’m sorry for troubling you. I understand your concerns, but not all soldiers are like that…”
He paused, looked around quickly, then lowered his voice and whispered.
“I’m not one of those beasts who have given up on being human.”
Everyone in this valley would know exactly who he was talking about.
“We’ve all been feeling sorry for you. We wish he would just leave you alone. But, as you know, the military’s hierarchy is a law in itself, and we can’t refuse an officer’s orders or report someone as high-ranking as the Major. Even if we did, he’d just claim that he’s only making you clean, and slither his way out of it. Sergeant Hoffman, too, has been suffering, watching you endure.”
“The Sergeant… has been suffering?”
He was always so expressionless when watching me endure, only bluntly telling me to go to the Major’s bedroom. He had claimed he wasn’t doing it willingly, but he still attempted to drag me away, even if it meant killing Johann. Was this someone who had truly cared about my suffering?
“No matter what, even if I’m not the one enduring it. To see a powerless woman suffer in a way no animal would, and not feel anything—how can that be called human?”
