They had it all. Every thing they ever wanted. She loved him. He loved her. But there’s always a but that spoils it all. They looked through the window and the city still looked resplendent. The neon lights flickered in the night sky, and neither of them said a word.

They had stopped communicating a long time ago. Hold on, to give you some context, it was the year 2080 and humans had lost their voice, quite literally. People spoke only through text messages. Language in its verbal form had been forgotten. The sound of a voice was only imagined while reading history books. They often wondered how tough it must have been for human kind to communicate verbally in the olden times. Even the thought of it sent jitters down their spine. Imagine, talking to someone and not being able to hide your emotions. Every syllable that you utter, would send a signal to the other person about the way you really feel. Why would anyone want to put themselves into that position in life?

Just as she hid all of these thoughts in the labyrinth of her head, she sent him a text that said, “Shrimp noodles for dinner?”

Without batting an eyelid or moving a single facial muscle, he replied to her with a “Yes! :D”

On reaching the restaurant, they continued texting each other about their day. The only sounds you could hear were of china on china and the clink of cutlery. They spoke about their day and the bitchy bosses. Oh and fun fact — their thumbs… they had evolved over the years to allow their owners to type at the speed of lightning.

Just as the noodles presented themselves at the table, both of them dove in their chopsticks without thinking a word and suddenly something absolutely unimaginable happened. He was looking at her unblinkingly, the noodles oscillating from his half-open mouth at what she had just done. As for her, she hadn’t realised until she had done it. She had spoken… And filled the entire restaurant with silence. The cutlery wasn’t clinking anymore. In eons, nobody had heard a human speak. And then she said it again. “This is so good.” Suddenly, she realised that she loved the way her voice sounded. It was refreshing, chirpy, sonorous. “This is so good” she said again. And got back to slurping up her soupy noodles.

Her tryst with the noodles bought her fame overnight. Today she is a YouTube star who gives V-talks to empower people to have a voice of their own. But she always starts her show with a drool worthy noodle-pull, it always helps.