It started in a print studio in Tbilisi. Valentina was silkscreening a protest poster. Rafael had wandered in looking for turpentine. He stayed for three hours, said almost nothing, and left his sketchbook behind — deliberately.

She mailed it back with a drawing inside. He called the number she'd written in the margin. They argued about color theory on the phone for forty minutes before either of them laughed. That was the beginning of everything.