Please Forget Me - Chapter 153

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

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He didn’t push me. It was clear from Johann’s haggard cheeks and exhausted eyes that he had had a tiring day. So, I left him to sleep and carefully untied the suspenders that were fastened to his pants.

“Ah.”

Suddenly, Johann opened his eyes wide and sat up. I wondered what he had forgotten to make him shake off his exhaustion, but then he grabbed his jacket draped over the bed’s rail and placed it on my lap, before collapsing back onto the bed.

‘What is this?’

As I looked over the jacket, I noticed both pockets were heavy. When I pulled out the contents, my eyes widened in surprise. There was a luxurious chocolate box and a sponge cake wrapped in wax paper and tied with a ribbon. Chocolate and fluffy cake had become such rare items since last year that I hadn’t even seen them in a while.

“Where did this come from?”

I asked in surprise, but instead of answering, Johann just let out regular, steady breaths. He had already fallen asleep.

I stared down at the small chocolate and the sweet-scented cake, then pushed them aside on the side table. I then pulled the sleeping man into my arms. The warmth of his embrace was far more comforting than the sweet treats I had just received.

“My love.”

“……”

Even in his sleep, he usually wrapped his arms around me whenever I cuddled up to him, but tonight, he didn’t. Perhaps he was so deeply asleep, or maybe he was just too exhausted from something he had done. I wondered what had drained him so much.

I lay still, gazing at his handsome face as if it were carved from stone, then pressed my lips gently against his. His lips softened, and warm breath escaped through the gap. Tonight, I felt a strange sense of relief that he was safe, but soon, doubt crept in again.

Thankfully, the smell of cigarettes was absent from his breath, but the scent of alcohol was still lingering heavily in his exhalations.

What had Johann been doing tonight?

* * *

The smell of cigarettes and alcohol, the officer, the car, and the chocolate and cake all came from none other than a parent. The parents of the quiet Thomas, the officer, General Hildebrandt and his wife.

Recently, the wife had subtly asked Johann to become Thomas’s private tutor after school, but Johann had consistently declined. As our situation worsened, I began to wonder if he was avoiding getting involved with high-ranking military figures for fear of being discovered as a deserter.

But now I understand. I had opposed it, but that evening, Johann went to see the second-in-command of the highest command.

“I said I would help their son, and in exchange, I wanted us to be protected from the Major’s harassment.”

In exchange for becoming Thomas’s tutor, he asked the Major not to harass us anymore. I don’t know exactly how much Johann revealed to General Hildebrandt about what the Major had done to us, especially what he had done to me, as Johann never told me.

Anyway, the General was completely shocked by the Major’s actions and promised to take immediate action, and true to his word, things were resolved.

The Major no longer sought me out. He didn’t call for me in the mornings, and even when the day came that he said he would come back to assault me, he never showed up.

Not only was the day my cycle ended uneventful, but even when the next one came, I never saw the Major’s back again.

‘It was that easy to stop him.’

I wasn’t the only one who was surprised by this.

“He just crumbled like that.”

I heard from the corporal who drove the truck between the village and the military base that even the soldiers who knew about the Major’s actions were stunned.

“It was only natural since the General stepped in, but it’s surprising, considering how stubborn he was. Ah, of course, he didn’t meekly accept the rebuke and orders from above, but still.”

“What did the Major say?”

“It wasn’t anything big. He claimed there were no improper contacts, just some cleaning duties. He said it was all within the scope of the mobilization orders, and he didn’t understand what the issue was. He made these pathetic excuses. Does he think it will work?”

“Ah… I see.”

Even though he claimed there were no improper contacts, many had witnessed his inappropriate actions.

“So, what did he say when it didn’t work?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it all before I even heard the rest.

“He insisted that Mr. Renner was a spy for the Falklands, and that everyone was being fooled by him.”

I laughed out loud, unable to hold it in.

“Did he get hit in the head or something?”

The corporal muttered under his breath, criticizing the Major. Though crude, I couldn’t help but agree with him.

Despite the tense atmosphere lately, it was hard to believe that accusing someone of being a spy would hold up, especially when the Major should have known better.

“Either way, it’s the General’s orders. Who could possibly defy that?”

The corporal was grinning from ear to ear, clearly pleased by the turn of events.

“By the way, if you were on such good terms with someone so important, why didn’t you ask for help earlier instead of enduring all this?”

Because my husband is a deserter.

“They’re so high up…”

I vaguely mumbled, hiding the real reason. It seemed the corporal understood, likely because of something Sergeant Hoffman had said about how people in power rarely cared about the lives of those beneath them.

“I’m glad you finally asked for help, though.”

In the end, the high-ranking official listened to our plea, and it was surprisingly easy to put the leash on the Major, using even greater power to stop him.