In this chap­ter of “Moth­er Night,” the pro­tag­o­nist engages in a pro­found and emo­tion­al­ly charged con­ver­sa­tion with a woman named Resi, who has just revealed a sig­nif­i­cant truth about her iden­ti­ty and feel­ings. They are seat­ed in a cafe­te­ria, char­ac­ter­ized by harsh light­ing and an over­whelm­ing noise, reflect­ing the tur­bu­lence of their sit­u­a­tion. She declares her love for him, spark­ing dis­be­lief and con­fu­sion in him. He won­ders about the nature of their rela­tion­ship and the “strange crime” he feels he’s com­mit­ted.

Resi reveals that her love for him has been life­long, dat­ing back to her child­hood. As they dis­cuss, she reflects on her past, shar­ing that her escape to West Berlin and the sto­ries she told about her life in Dres­den were most­ly fab­ri­cat­ed, except for her time spent work­ing in a cig­a­rette fac­to­ry. Resi express­es a sense of guilt towards her past and the dreams she had while work­ing at the fac­to­ry, admit­ting that those dreams involved being some­one oth­er than herself—specifically, her sis­ter Hel­ga, whom she idol­ized.

Through­out the dia­logue, the pro­tag­o­nist grap­ples with whether Resi can tru­ly embody the essence of Hel­ga, a woman he loved deeply. He acknowl­edges that his own per­cep­tion might be skewed, mak­ing space for her asser­tion that she loves him just as deeply as Hel­ga once did. A piv­otal moment occurs when Resi asks whether she should con­tin­ue to bleach her hair white or allow her nat­ur­al col­or, sym­bol­iz­ing her strug­gle with iden­ti­ty and self-accep­tance.

As they ven­ture back onto the street, Resi’s char­ac­ter begins to emerge more clear­ly, dis­tinct from Hel­ga. The laugh­ter she shares, vibrant and gen­uine, con­trasts with the mem­o­ries of Hel­ga and marks her tran­si­tion towards embrac­ing her true self. The chap­ter cul­mi­nates in a moment of reflec­tion as they observe a store win­dow fea­tur­ing a bed rem­i­nis­cent of one from Hel­ga and the protagonist’s past while also cap­tur­ing their fleet­ing images—a ghost­ly reminder of lost love and bur­geon­ing new rela­tion­ships. Over­all, their encounter is both an explo­ration of iden­ti­ty and an exam­i­na­tion of the com­plex­i­ties of love and mem­o­ry.