The scent of fresh coffee lingers in the air as you enter the dining hall the next morning.
You stop abruptly.
Nicolò is already seated at the head of the long table, an espresso cup beside him, his gaze fixed on some documents.
But it is not him that makes you pause.
It is Ludovica.
She is sitting directly to his right.
In your seat.
As if it were the most ordinary thing in the world, as if she had sat there a hundred times before. One hand rests beside Nicolò's coffee cup while she quietly discusses something in his papers with him.
Only after a few seconds does she notice you.
Her gaze drifts to you — and she starts to get up out of the chair.
"Good morning."
Nicolò also looks up.
His gray-green eyes rest on you for a moment.
Ludovica, on the other hand, does not move an inch.
"Oh."
Her eyes deliberately drop to the chair she is sitting on before she looks back at you.
"This was your seat, wasn't it."
She knows.
Of course she knows.