Chapter 2

— 2 —

“I wish to apologize to you,” Mera blurted out. “In fact, all these years, I’ve wanted to find you, say sorry, and return all the money that belonged to you.”

“Money that belonged to me?”

Mera replied, “A total of 1,064 marks. That’s 532 euros now. I… I don’t have that much cash on me today, but I swear I’ll return every bit of it. I’ve never spent that money.” Her face flushed, her blue eyes shimmering with emotion.

The young man looked at her in confusion. “This money…”

“Was stolen from you,” Mera said, straightening her back and meeting his gaze directly.

“I’m sorry. I did something truly shameful… More than ten years ago, in the summer of 1999, I stole all your money at Flensburg train station.”

The young man stared at her motionlessly, a pensive expression flickering across his face before a strange light appeared in those beautiful eyes.

“The summer of 1999… Flensburg?”

“Yes,” Mera nodded.

“1999… That was the year my parents adopted my little sister Nadia—she was a little girl from Kenya, Africa. And I couldn’t understand at all why they did that…”

She suddenly stopped, embarrassed, and tugged at her hair.

“Oh, forgive me for rambling about unrelated things. I just want you to know that I wasn’t born a criminal.”

The young man regarded her calmly. “Of course you weren’t,” he said.

His gentle gaze and tone gave Mera the courage to continue.

“I was only eight years old back then, the only child in the family. I didn’t understand why my parents wanted another child, especially one who looked nothing like me. I thought they didn’t love me anymore, that they preferred a tiny baby with fuzzy hair who could barely walk, whose skin was like chocolate.”

“That afternoon, I came home from school much later than usual. I thought my mother would be frantic and ask me urgently where I’d been, like she always did. But instead, I found that she hadn’t even noticed I was late. She was too busy taking care of Nadia—playing with her, changing her diapers—as if nothing else in the world could distract her. I was furious. I stormed out of the house, wandered aimlessly down the street, and ended up at the train station.”

“A thought crossed my mind—to buy a ticket to Wuppertal, where my Aunt Ros lived. She was the kindest, gentlest person in the world and had always doted on me the most. I really wanted to see her. On the other hand, I secretly hoped that if I disappeared, maybe my parents would finally worry about me for once.”

“But I only had two one-mark coins in my pocket. I remembered once seeing a young woman on the platform begging for spare change to buy a ticket home. I wanted to do the same, but after pacing up and down the platform a few times, I couldn’t find anyone I had the courage to ask.”

“Then I noticed a boy sitting on a bench, his head tilted back against the seat as if asleep. His sun hat covered his forehead, so I couldn’t see his face clearly, but I guessed he couldn’t be much older than me, definitely still a minor. He wore sneakers, jeans, and a ridiculous T-shirt with foreign writing all over it. A travel backpack sat beside him.”

“I watched his chest rise and fall evenly, his wallet peeking out slightly from his jeans pocket.”

Mera paused, her face flushing as she looked at the handsome man with amber eyes, Mr. Muller, standing in front of her.

“I… I’m so sorry. I didn’t know…” she stammered. “It must’ve been a demon that possessed me back then…”

“I watched him for a while, then reached over the back of the bench and took the wallet. When I did it, my mind was blank: no fear, no worry about being seen… It all felt so natural.”

“Then I used the coins from his wallet to buy a ticket from the vending machine nearby. As I bought it, I thought, if he woke up, I’d just throw the wallet back at him and run as fast as I could. I knew there was a small path near the station; he’d never catch me…”

“Just then, a train arrived with a loud noise. The boy jerked awake. He grabbed his backpack in an instant, leapt up, and boarded the train. He moved so fast I didn’t even get a clear look at his face.”

“I watched the train pull away until it vanished from sight.”

“When I finally had a chance to look inside the wallet, I found a zippered inner pocket. To my shock, inside was a banknote, a 1,000-mark bill featuring the Grimm Brothers. I’d never seen such a large denomination in real life before. I couldn’t believe it was real.”

“But it looked genuine. I was completely stunned, forgetting all about my plan to go to Heidelberg. Slowly, I walked back home. My mother didn’t even realize I’d been gone.”

“Soon after, the euro conversion began. We searched every corner of the house for hidden marks and coins, but I couldn’t bring myself to produce that bill… I kept it tucked inside my diary. Years later, when I was old enough to open my own bank account, I went to the bank and made up an excuse to show them the bill. They confirmed it was real. Unfortunately, the exchange deadline had long passed: those 1,000 marks were now worthless. Someone even suggested I try selling it to a collector.”

“Can you imagine how I felt? I’d hoped the bill was fake, just a prop or collector’s item. I thought I’d only taken a student’s wallet and a few dozen marks in pocket money, nothing more. But it was a full 1,000 marks. I couldn’t help but think it was that boy’s entire fortune, that he must’ve had something important to do to carry so much cash… I had no idea what he must’ve done when he realized it was gone.”

“The wallet had a few foreign documents inside: what looked like a student ID and library card. Out of fear, I threw those away the next day… The only thing I remembered was the name on them, a very common one, with hundreds of people on Facebook sharing it.”

“But I kept one thing, a small photo tucked between the documents. After learning the bill was real, I often took that photo out, imagining how that poor boy must’ve felt after losing such a huge sum, wondering what had become of him… That’s why I recognized you the moment I walked into the hall today.”

Mera lifted her head. Her blue eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Muller. Please… forgive me.”

The young man stared at her without moving. His expression was strange, part surprise, part sorrow, and something else Mera couldn’t decipher.

Finally, he spoke slowly, “I’m afraid, Miss Fischer, you’ve got the wrong person.”