My Beloved Oppressor - Chapter 113

On an idyllic afternoon in the spring sunshine, Heiner climbed the hill to Sunset Cliff. A series of colorful roofed houses flanked the cliff and one road.

Heiner spotted the sky-blue-roofed house immediately among them. He took the key she had given him from his pocket and unlocked the door.

His shoulders were tense with tension as he opened the door. He had come here as soon as March arrived, as he had promised Annette, but he did not know what she wanted to talk about.

Would she want to stop everything going on between them?

Would she want them to live as complete strangers?

Or would she say everything is fine?

He was going to do whatever Annette said. If she wanted to break up with him, then so be it. If she didn’t want to see him for the rest of her life, he would not appear before her forever.

The rambunctious William in the fairy tale eventually had a happy ending, despite giving up the flower. But reality was no fairy tale.

He would never have a happy ending.

The white gate opened with a click. The sound was like a final sentence, and Heiner took a short breath. The belated wish followed like regret.

But he still wanted her to tell him that everything would be okay. That everything would be fine……….

He entered and closed the gate. His black shoes followed a small path between the lush green grass.

Within a few steps, Heiner stopped abruptly. He lifted his head and looked into the air.

A faint but familiar melody was carried in the wind from somewhere.

Heiner listened. Convinced that what he had heard was right, he opened his mouth and let out a small sob. His pupils shook in disbelief.

It was that song.

It was the melody of that music box.

Heiner took another step, as if possessed. When he finally reached it, the piano melody came from the backyard.

It was played at a slightly slower tempo and the notes were strangely broken, just like that time the little girl had played it. Heiner realized after a pause that this was the fault of her injured left hand.

Suddenly he remembered their childhood days like an old dream.

A building so white that he dared not even touch it. Melody flowing through curtains fluttering in the wind. Grass gently trodden underfoot.

Little hands moving back and forth the large piano keys in the open window. A white dress and braided blond hair. A girl who was as fragile and beautiful as a sugar doll……………

Images that had possessed him for a very long time.

Every night he imagined her face he had never seen up close. He imagined the voice he had never heard, and then imagined it again.

He even had a silly desire for the girl’s blue eyes to pass over him just once.

He also had an unbelievable wish to have a long talk with her. The piano song became a little clearer the more he headed toward the backyard.

He quietly approached the window. He could see curtains fluttering in the open window. A woman in a white dress was sitting in front of a large piano.

The woman sitting by the window in the bright sunlight was dazzling, as if she had been painted with light all over. The figure looked more precious than a saint, the holiest of all human beings.

Heiner stared at her profile, transfixed. It was as if he had cut straight through a dream as beautiful as a fantasy and was looking at an image illuminated by a section of it.

So …… beautiful. So chilling. It was like going back to childhood. It was as if he was seeing something he wasn’t supposed to see. He involuntarily backed away.

Snap.

Branches were stepped on and crushed underfoot. Heiner took a deep breath quietly. At the same time, the sound of the piano stopped. The sun shone on the windowsill.

The whole bright field of vision turned white like an afterimage. The woman turned her head. Instinctively he stopped, trying to hide himself.

The piano chair was pushed back gingerly in the room. He heard shoes approaching the window.

Instead of running away, Heiner stood there and stared blankly into the square window.

‘Ah……’

In the dimly flickering scene, a little girl was walking toward him. The surface of her golden hair shimmered in the sunlight.

The distance between them grew closer and closer. With each step, the little girl grew larger and larger. From a child to a girl, from a girl to a young woman, and from a young woman to a fully mature woman.

His blurry vision became clearer at a certain moment. The man and the woman stood facing each other across an open window. Her blue eyes contained him completely.

“Heiner.”

She smiled dazzlingly in the light and called his name.

At that moment, Heiner felt the distant memory that had dominated his life like a shadow take a step back.

For a brief moment he forgot every word, every thought, every memory. Only the woman who existed before him was as vivid as a still life.

The woman asked.

“Why are you there instead of coming through the door?”

“Performance…………”

The man who was once a boy fidgeted and opened his mouth.

“I like it.”

Then he spat out the words he had wanted to say for a long time. Annette brushed her cheek with embarrassment. Then she spoke shyly.

“Well, my playing is a mess……………. This is one of the etude pieces I played the most when I was young. When you’re actively learning playing techniques, you usually start practicing with etudes. I played it so much I got sick of it.”

“Isn’t the genre of music you’ve just competed also an etude?”

“Yes, so I’m trying to play the pieces I played as a child again.”

He knew most of the songs she had played when she was younger. Even if he didn’t know the titles of the songs, he was confident he could recall them all if he heard it.

Heiner impulsively confessed.

“It was when you were playing that song….”

“What?”

“That was the first time I saw you.”

Annette’s eyes widened at his words. She looked up at Heiner in surprise and gave him a small smile.

“…I see.”

She asked, mumbling to herself.

“Heiner, do you know the title of this song?”

“…I don’t know.”

Heiner deliberately did not look for the title of this song. Because the time when he admired the Rosenberg young Lady was a memory he wanted to erase from his past.

“This etude is one of a suite of several smaller pieces called ‘Love Atypicals.’ It’s quite old music, in the classical style.”

He did not know music, for the music box was broken anyway, and the girl who was holy like a Saint was gone, and the melody that had warped his life was just loathsome.

So he was not looking for the title of this song.

“My Beloved Oppressor.”

And he went a long way to get an answer.

“That is the title of this song.”

The gentle voice put an end to his old question. Heiner stared absently at her lips and murmured accordingly.

“………… my beloved oppressor.”

The title seemed as if it were inevitable. Perhaps his fate had been sealed from the moment he happened to hear that song in the Rosenberg rose garden.

Annette stepped back from the window and opened her mouth.

“Heiner, I played my etude for you to hear. I know it’s messed up because I can’t use my left hand as flexibly………… but still.”

Two steps.

“If you can’t hear me from afar, why don’t you just stay close? Even if you can’t hear at all…you can see my hands pressing the keys. So stay close to me.”

Three steps.

“That’s my answer.”

Annette slowly sat down in the piano chair. Her long, slender fingers pressed the keys. She smiled at him and then began to move her hands.

The performance began.

The notes continued in a slightly slower beat. A gentle, soft melody rose and fell between them. Heiner stood with one hand on the window and listened to the performance.

There he was her only audience.

Just as she was his only pianist.

The beautiful melody gently enveloped him. It was a moment that seemed like an eternity. Heiner’s lips trembled faintly as he laughed and cried. The depths of his chest shook helplessly.

Annette.

When this life falls apart, you will be the only remains left. My whole life has been you. And it will be you.

Annette.

You are there and I am here. There are still a few steps between us, but we can see each other and hear each other. That’s how you become my precious once again.

Annette, the punishment of my life.

My beautiful shackles.

I love you with all my heart, with all my life…….

My beloved oppressor.

Annette, who had been playing, suddenly turned her head to look at him. Their gazes met. Heiner struggled to suppress his intense emotions.

Then he smiled brightly at her.

The wind blew from the distant horizon. Waves broke white from the cliff and returned to the sea with the melody. The newly formed waves glistened in the sunlight.

The performance went on like that for a long time.

***

~End~