As the sun rose, Lucio stared out the window of his apartment in Rome. He finished drinking his espresso and then lit a cigarette. He glanced over at his latest tattoo, which was simply the letter D, but then he quickly looked away. He tried not to look at it because every time he did, he felt sadness and regret. He remembered how in lieu of a honeymoon, he decided that he and his wife, Dina, should get tattoos of each other's first name initials, but Dina always wanted a honeymoon, just one of the many disappointments Dina had endured, which Lucio regretted.

Dina disappeared four months ago, so he often thought about her "L" tattoo. Did she look at it and think of him? Was another man looking at it instead, or was no one looking at it because she was dead?

Lucio's apartment had become a shrine to Dina. In the kitchen, there was a framed photo of her on the table where she sat. There was a photo of her taped to her pillow on his bed. In the hallway and every room, there were photos of them together hanging on the walls. All of the mirrors had been covered in a collage of photos of only Dina's face.

After Dina's disappearance, Lucio had isolated himself from the rest of the world by rarely leaving his apartment, meaning quitting his job (although he got by financially on various contractual remote projects) and distancing himself from his family and friends, which meant never having any visitors. He only spoke with people by phone and would never leave his apartment, for fear of being away in case Dina returned.

Everyone knew this was unhealthy behavior and tried to get him to change, but Lucio was not an easy person to talk to or deal with in general, so they just let him be, figuring it was part of his coping process.

However, although Lucio felt sad, he looked up at the morning sun and thought to himself that today would be different. He had decided to see some friends at a local bar where he used to go out for drinks.

Upon Lucio's entrance to the bar, he saw some familiar faces who gave him a warm welcome, since they were glad to see their friend again. Lucio had some drinks with his buddies, and for the first time in four months, he actually cracked a smile and felt a little better.

Unbeknownst to Lucio, his former colleague, Vittoria, was also in that bar. Vittoria and Lucio were friendly at work, more polite than friendly on Lucio's part, but Vittoria saw their workplace "friendship" as hope that they could become more than friends one day. Vittoria was generally unlucky in love for a few different reasons, but the main one was that she consistently misconstrued politeness from men for flirtation.

Additionally, she just tried too hard to meet someone, making herself appear desperate; it was evident in everything about her, from the layers of makeup she would apply to the way she presented herself in front of men. This behavior was hurting her rather than helping her, as explained by her friends, but she was too stubborn to listen.

Vittoria's eyes lit up when she saw Lucio from across the bar; she hadn't seen or heard from him since his last day at work. Hoping to catch him before he left, she ran over to where he was sitting, pushed herself in front of him, gave him a big bear hug, and, before he could respond to her actions, she went on to say how she missed him so much and how work just wasn't the same and would never be the same without him.

Lucio was embarrassed (and uncomfortable) but politely thanked her, letting her know that he needed to leave in a few minutes. At that point, Vittoria had to devise a way for him to stay longer, so she ordered drinks for herself and Lucio and told him that this round was on her. Lucio awkwardly thanked her and remained in his seat.

Vittoria kept buying drinks and even taking photos of them, trying to give their evening some sort of date vibe. Despite all of this, and to Vittoria's dismay, the night wasn't going in the direction she had planned. The more Lucio drank, the more comfortable with Vittoria he became, meaning more comfortable talking about how much he missed his wife and how he regretted not being kinder to her. Vittoria was sick of hearing about his wife, but then thought that maybe she could use this to her advantage; she could comfort him.

As Vittoria leaned in to get close to him, Lucio pulled back, saying that he didn't feel well, but she continued to draw in closer, and then he vomited all over her face and hair. People at the bar started laughing, and Lucio said he was sorry in a hurry as he ran out of the bar.

Lucio left the bar and began to clean his face with a tissue. When he began walking home, he looked up and saw that there was a woman, quite a distance ahead of him, wearing the same red coat his wife wore. Was it Dina? Had she returned? Lucio did not feel well, but used every ounce of strength in him to catch up to her.

Lucio ran as fast as he could down the seemingly endless streets of San Lorenzo. He would not lose Dina again. He called out for her as she appeared to be crossing the street away from their home, but she didn't turn around.

Lucio finally caught up to the woman he believed to be his wife, and when she turned around, she asked, "Do I know you?" Sadly, the woman was not Dina. Out of breath, he didn't even respond; he just looked at her with disappointment, turned around, and walked quietly back to his home.

The next morning, the warm sun was shining brightly over Rome, peeping through Lucio's blinds, which woke him up. The sun always provided him with comfort, so he decided to relax on his building's unfinished terrace, a place where he could be alone, since people hardly went up there. As he sat there pondering about his life and Dina, he heard someone wearing stiletto heels on the terrace. Who could it be?