Please Forget Me - Chapter 62

‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

The woman held the boy tightly with both hands as he tried to escape again and said to him,

“If you don’t want to go to school, just say so.”

Her words sounded like both a command and a plea. Either way, it was strange to hear.

“……”

The boy was equally strange. Even though he was told he didn’t have to go to school if he said so, he just kept his mouth shut and glared at his mother.

The woman, who had been glaring back at him, briefly looked like she might cry, then quickly hardened her expression and ordered.

“Then I’ll take that as a yes. Go in. Now.”

Still, the boy didn’t obey, so she ended up knocking on the door and pushing him into the classroom. As soon as the door closed behind the boy, the woman let out a tired sigh.

The principal approached and started speaking to her. I couldn’t hear clearly, but it seemed to be words of comfort.

The boy didn’t seem like an ordinary child who just didn’t want to go to school. That’s when I realized he hadn’t said a single word the whole time.

‘Is he disabled?’

That evening, I asked Johann about it.

“What’s Thomas Hildebrandt like?”

“How does Rize know Thomas?”

In asking, I ended up confessing that I had gone to the school secretly. Johann scolded me for not waiting until break time and for not showing my face when I was at the school.

Only after a long lecture did I finally get the answer I wanted.

“He’s not disabled. He just doesn’t talk.”

“He doesn’t talk, but he’s not disabled?”

“He’s not unable to talk; he chooses not to.”

It turned out the boy only kept silent outside the house. While he didn’t speak to his father at home, he conversed freely with his mother and older sister.

“He’s a smart kid, but because he doesn’t talk, people think he’s slow, which really upsets his mother.”

“I can understand why she’d be upset.”

How frustrating it must be. I started to understand the woman’s desperate and harsh behavior I’d seen earlier that day.

“Do they know why he only stays silent outside?”

“They don’t know for sure because he won’t say, but it seems he’s afraid of men.”

Last fall, when he first came to school, Thomas attended regularly even though he didn’t speak at all. It was because his teacher was a woman. But as soon as she left, he started to miss school frequently.

“He often runs away when the teacher looks away. So now they station his father’s adjutant outside the classroom door until the end of the school day.”

“My goodness…”

“Today was his first day back this semester, and as soon as he saw me, he tried to leave.”

I think I saw that. It must have been the moment when the woman pushed Thomas back into the classroom and shut the door. To be so frightened of men, even someone as kind-looking as Johann…

“He must have some terrible memories to be that scared of men.”

“It’s not just one traumatic event. From what I gathered during a consultation with Mrs. Hildebrandt, it seems his father is the main issue.”

Thomas’s father is a high-ranking army general, the second in command at the headquarters. The family has a long military tradition. Just hearing that, I could imagine the atmosphere at home.

“Their house must be like a military base.”

“Exactly. And Thomas is their only son, expected from birth to follow in his father’s footsteps as a capable soldier.”

But Thomas is naturally timid, leading to many conflicts with his father. Moving to a place like the bunker, filled with intimidating soldiers, only made things worse.

“The poor boy. What a difficult situation… You need to show him that not all men are scary.”

“Whether he’ll open up to me is uncertain, but I’ll definitely try.”

“Speaking of difficult situations, you’ve got your hands full with such a challenging student in your first semester…”

“It’s not too bad. He doesn’t cause trouble; he just stays quiet and tries to sneak away. Otherwise, he’s very calm and well-behaved.”

“That’s a relief.”

“You’re the one in a difficult situation.”

“Difficult? All I do is clean a bit, ignore the major’s ramblings, and knit.”

I tried to reassure him with a lie but felt a pang of guilt and quickly changed the subject.

“Oh, that’s right! I have a gift for you today.”

“A gift?”

I pointed to the stack of papers next to the sofa.

“I got a bunch of paper from the major.”

The major had indeed given me the paper. Concerned about potential leaks, he only provided new, unused sheets.

“Did he just give those to you?”

Johann looked skeptical, worried about what the cost might have been. When he learned that the price was simply his writing, he was relieved but still a bit concerned.

“He claims he’s helping you get ahead so you can dump me when you’re successful…”

“Nonsense.”

“I think so too. I’m not sure why he keeps asking for your writing, but I think it’s best not to give him any samples. I’ll come up with some excuses.”

“Thank you. You’re dealing with so much.”

Johann kissed me and then walked over to the sofa.

“That’s quite a lot of paper…”

The stack Johan picked up with one hand was thicker than a handbreadth. It seemed like the soldier who received the order misunderstood the purpose.

Regardless, we now had an abundance of new papers.