[Their love] had burned itself out, like a forgotten candle in an empty room, leaving behind a ravenous discontent.

Twin primes: pairs of prime numbers that are close to each other, almost neighbors, but between them there is always an even number that prevents them from truly touching. If you go on counting, you discover that these pairs gradually become rarer, lost in that silent, measured space made only of ciphers. You develop a distressing presentiment that the pairs encountered up until that point were accidental, that solitude is the true destiny. Then, just when you’re about to surrender, you come across another pair of twins, clutching each other tightly.

[Their love] had burned itself out, like a forgotten candle in an empty room, leaving behind a ravenous discontent.

but his eyes were too dark for her to make out any spark in them

She found herself thinking of how it would feel to be safely trapped in his arms, with no more possibility to choose.

It was strange to find them here, still alive, with their shared bits of past that suddenly counted for nothing.

Separating them were two layers of brick, a few inches of plaster, and nine years of silence.