Oppressor sss4

Special side story. Amor Fati (4)

    ***

    ⭐️ Read the complete translation here     https://www.patreon.com/collection/188783

    ****

    There was little light inside the hotel room, which was covered by blackout curtains. Heiner turned on only the light in the walk-in closet as he prepared to leave. It was a committee meeting day.

    He put on a shirt, wrapped his tie around his neck, and knotted it. Once he tied it, he felt a bit empty.

    Annette had always tied his ties for him. Heiner didn't want to bother her, but she insisted on it.

    In fact, even during their first marriage, she had tried to tie his ties with a clumsy hand. And just as she was getting the hang of tying his tie, the revolution occurred.

    After the Revolution, Annette visited him from time to time, but Heiner always passed her by in his well-dressed attire.

    When this happened repeatedly, she stopped coming to see him.

    In the silence, there was a rustling of cloth. Heiner put on his best suit and buttoned it, remembering the first time she had tied his tie for him after their second marriage.

    "Can I do it for you?"

    The careful question implied a lot of time that had passed.

    Heiner bent down for her as she wrapped the tie around his neck. When he lifted his head again and met her up close, her blue eyes held a hint of tension.

    After twelve years, Annette was not lost. Her hands were slightly unskilled at making the loops and sliding the tie in, but not as clumsy as the first time.

    She looked up at him with a small smile as she slid the knot up and tightened the tie, and Heiner's lips twitched for a long moment before he kissed her, unable to say anything else    .......

    He zipped up his jacket and was now fully dressed. Heiner pulled out his bowler hat, grabbed it, and turned off the lights.

    As he left the dressing room, he fiddled with the knot of his tie. Heiner had told her she didn't have to do it herself, but she actually liked it.

    It was in these small moments that he was reminded that they were a couple. No matter how insignificant the act.

    Yes, they were a couple.

    Heiner reminded himself of that fact.

    The sense of relief and fulfillment that followed was still foreign. Perhaps he wouldn't fully believe it until he died.

    But that was okay. If it was a dream he didn’t wake up from until he died.

    In a darkened room, a woman lay on a bed. Heiner approached with quiet steps and pulled the covers up to her shoulders.

    The small body rose and fell regularly, following the grain of her breathing.

    Annette was usually an early riser, but she hadn't woken up easily since arriving in Lancaster by train yesterday, visiting places here and there.

    Heiner scribbled a few sentences on a notepad on the bedside table, watched her sleeping face for a moment, and then left the room.

    ***

    Annette woke up to the sound of the phone ringing. Frowning, she checked her watch in a daze and realized that it was already past eleven o'clock.

    The phone rang again. She jumped out of bed and hurried to answer it, then realized she had the phone upside down.

    [⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯ This is the rental desk, calling about your package].

    Almost simultaneously with the employee's voice, Annette spotted a notepad on the nightstand. It was scrawled in her husband's distinctive vertical, elongated handwriting.

    {I'm going without waking you. Meet me at the Clock Tower Square at five in the evening. If anything happens, call me at the extension below.}

    [Do you want me to take it up to your room right now?]

    Annette didn't know what package the front desk clerk was referring to, but she said yes; it looked like she was expecting something.

    It wasn't long before the doorbell rang. As soon as she opened the door, she was confronted with a mountain of shopping bags emblazoned with the logo of La Louis department store.

    The staff carried the bags into the room on a cart. Then, out of nowhere, he offered her a piece of paper and a pen.

    "I just need you to sign here."

    Annette nervously took the pen and signed.

    After the employee left, she looked at the pile of shopping bags on the floor in front of her front door. It looked like they were from all the stores.

    "Did he order......?”

    Half nervously, she opened one of the bags. Inside was a pair of women's clothes, neatly folded. Her eyes widened.

    Carefully lifting it up, she saw a light blue short-sleeved dress with a belt at the waist. It was one of the clothes the clerk had brought back from the department store yesterday.

    Annette held the dress still, unfolded it, and put it back. She opened the other shopping bags, one by one.

    Suits, dresses, pants, blouses, hats, scarves, gloves, shoes------. She looked up from the last bag, a little perplexed.

    What to do….

    After thinking for a while, Annette went into the bathroom first. As she slowly washed herself and stepped out of the shower, the shopping bags were still there, flaunting their sheer volume.

    Slightly hesitating, she pulled the light blue dress back out of the first bag she'd opened. The densely drawn patterns on the fabric were luxurious.

    A moment later, Annette stood in front of the full-length mirror.

    The cotton dress fit her body perfectly. The hem, designed to be narrower in the bust than the ones she was used to wearing, had vertical pleats that ruffled gently as she moved.

    Annette slipped off her guest room slippers and carefully slipped her feet into the new shoes she'd brought with her. The white shoes with black trim on the toe matched the dress perfectly.

    In the mirror, she saw herself dressed similarly to the stylish women she'd seen on the street yesterday. For some reason, she twisted her hair, feeling embarrassed.

    Annette paced back and forth in the mirror, then tried putting her long hair in a loose bun. She chuckled under her breath as she thought of the man who had ordered all of this for her.

    ***

    The trip to the hairdresser in front of the hotel was somewhat impulsive. Annette cut her waist-length hair, which she had been wearing for over 30 years, since a childhood she couldn't remember.

    The staff asked if she wanted a perm, but she declined. It was a change of pace, not necessarily a trend.

    After leaving the salon, Annette awkwardly slung her shortened hair over her shoulders. The weight of her hair was unfamiliar.

    For some reason, she didn't feel like going back to the hotel, so she headed to the coffee house. When she arrived, there were quite a few customers inside.

    She sat by the second-floor window and ordered coffee and dessert. Below the white terrace stretched the square streets of Lancaster.

    Annette leisurely sipped her coffee and read one of the newspapers provided. It was full of the latest news from the capital, written in large print. Of course, there were no stories about her.

    How relaxed she felt, wandering around Lancaster alone.

    She still wore her hat in the capital, but it was unthinkable that she would ever do so again.

    She was acutely aware of how much time had passed.

    After killing time in the coffee house for quite a while, flipping through newspapers and magazines, Annette rose from her seat before five o'clock and headed to a nearby appointment.

    The clock tower square was also quite crowded. It felt much more densely populated than when she had lived in Lancaster.

    Annette sat down on a bench in front of the clock tower. People flitted through her vision.

    A father with a thirsty child, a man hurrying along with a briefcase, lovers holding hands, schoolgirls in uniforms..........

    Pong. A soap bubble burst, carried from somewhere on the wind. Annette turned her head to follow the sound of laughter.

    On one side of the square was an old man and a group of children with nets. The old man dipped the net into a large basket of liquid, then flicked it once, almost lightly.

    Large soap bubbles formed from each net nose. The children roared with laughter and chased after the bubbles.

    The clouds receded, and the afternoon sun shone brightly. Annette closed her eyes. The rainbow-colored light that had lingered on the surface of the soap bubbles flickered under her eyelids.

    Wow!

    She opened her eyes slowly. The crowd of people flashed before her eyes, and in the distance, through the crowd, a familiar man was walking.

    For a moment, time seemed to stand still.

    Sitting on the bench, Annette stared at him unwaveringly. It was a curious thing. Of all the people passing through the square, he stood out as clearly as if he had color.

    He was getting closer. Annette removed her hat and rose slowly from her seat. Her short hair fluttered lightly in the breeze.

    Heiner's eyes grew wider and wider. He froze in place for a moment, still a few steps away. He looked like a boy in surprise. Annette shyly tucked her hair behind her ear.

    "Is it ...... weird?"

    At the same time, the children, who were still chasing the soap bubbles, roared with laughter. Because of this, she wasn't sure if he heard her.

    Heiner stood still for a few seconds, then hesitated, then his feet took off again. The distance between them had closed.

    He wordlessly held out his arm. Annette was about to put her hand on it when she realized, belatedly, that the tips of his ears were slightly red.

    Like the young man who had asked her out on a first date one summer day.

    Annette couldn't help but laugh. She could feel him looking down at her. She laughed for a long time, not caring.

    Soap bubbles containing rainbows blew away on the spring breeze.

    ***

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