I was relaxing in my room when a message popped up on my phone.

It was from my ex.

We had broken up about a year ago, and I hadn't heard from her since.

"I have something I want to give back to you. Meet me at our usual Starbucks tonight."

I remembered how back when we were dating, we both loved Starbucks and went there almost every week.

What she wanted to give back was probably the stuff I'd left behind when I moved out of our shared apartment.

To be honest, we hadn't ended on good terms—I'd practically fled the place and unilaterally broke things off.

By now, I'd processed my feelings, and part of me was even hoping we could start over.

"Got it."

I sent my reply, and as I walked down memory lane, I wondered what I should say when I saw her.

In the end, I reached my destination without ever figuring out what to say.

When I walked inside, she was already waiting for me at a table.

Big eyes, long hair—nothing about her had changed.

The only difference was that she was wearing a bright red dress, even though she used to prefer plain clothes.

She was the one who brought up the topic first.

She had carefully wrapped each item I'd left behind in the apartment individually and placed them in a paper bag.

She apologized, saying she had sold larger things like my guitar for cash, and handed me that money as well.

I told her I couldn't accept the money, but she flatly refused to take it back.

"It's all yours."

"The rights, the responsibilities—make sure you take every last bit back with you."

"And make sure you check the contents."

Saying that, she quickly hurried out of the cafe.

It definitely wasn't an atmosphere for getting back together. Feeling ashamed of my naive expectations, I drank a cup of coffee and decided to head home.

Back home, I immediately started checking the contents of the paper bag.

A pair of matching key cases,

CDs from a band we both loved,

A ring,

An album filled with photos of the two of us,

Every single item was something precious.

Why had I left such important things behind? Tears welled up before I knew it, my chest tightening with feelings for her.

Huh?

I thought I'd checked everything inside, but the bottom felt unusually high—it was a false bottom.

Wondering why she had gone to such elaborate lengths, I reached for the final box hidden underneath.

Unwrapping it revealed a fairly large, tall wooden box.

I had no memory of this. It wasn't something I'd left behind. It was different from everything else—I realized this was the one thing she wanted to give me most of all.

Cold sweat trickled down my forehead.

My heart pounded violently. Trembling, I carefully opened the lid of the wooden box. Inside was...

A fetus.