I am a woman without words and I live in the world without sounds.

I know people often wonder how it feels like not being able to hear and speak.

I feel left out in the conversation. I cannot always lip-read whenever my classmates talk fast.

If I'm lucky, I will be the last person who gets the information, but most of the time I end up without knowing anything.

Sometimes I want to ask questions, I want to talk to my classmates, but it's too embarrassing to even open my mouth. People won't understand what I'm saying and they will just stare at me with that eyes. The judgmental eyes because I'm different from them.

I often feel lonely. I know you might be thinking everyone is lonely.

But you are understating my loneliness.

I am really lonely.

I always want to know the sounds of the songs that make my classmates laugh, dance, or even cry.

I always want to know the sounds of the movie in a cinema. My classmates tell me it's fun, thrilling, and exciting to watch in a cinema because of the perfect sound system, but I could never be able to relate.

Even though we live in the same place and time zone, it just feels like I live in a different world from them.

And it makes me wonder if one day I can find love?

But I read so many articles emphasizing that communication is essential to maintain a healthy relationship. So how will a man fall in love with me when we cannot communicate well?

There are often moments when I cry my eyes out, knowing that I might never be able to be a bride. I might never experience how it feels like to love and to be loved. Love is a luxury a woman in my position could never able to afford, but I have accepted this as part of me. It makes me who I am today.

Yes, I have accepted the fact that I might never be able to find love for the rest of my life.

But I realize that I'm wrong when I meet him.

He is a friendly, cheerful person that I met in a library. We are reaching for the same book on the top of the self. I read his lips, and I believe that he says hello to me. I want to answer him, but I can't, so I write on a piece of paper that I can neither speak nor hear. He is surprised at first, and when I think that he will feel awkward and leave me, like any other men that I encountered before, he still stands there. Instead, he grins, "first time I meet a woman like you. My name is Natsu."

It makes me smile, knowing there is a decent man who wants to get to know me. I write my name down, "Lucy."

Then we exchange phone number, and we frequently meet up. We always communicate through pieces of papers.

For the first time in ever, I feel that I eventually find someone who can understand me, who can connect with me, and it just feels amazing. For the first time in ever, I'm no longer feeling lonely.

But then one day I forget to bring my phone and Natsu is not showing up in a café where we use to hang out, but I will just wait. Suddenly the waitress approaches me and hands me her phone. She writes on a piece of paper, "Natsu is on the phone." I immediately accept the phone and put it near my ears. But I cannot understand what he is saying. At all.

I do want to ask him if he is alright, but what comes from my mouth is different, and I don't even know what it is. "Aaa… aaarr.. aa..aa."

I cannot even hear my own voice, I don't even know if it's high or low tone, but then I realize that my voice invites everyone's attention in that café. Now they are staring at me with that eyes. As the blood rushes to my face, staining my cheeks red, I stand up and run away. I'm crying and I cannot have them staring at me crying. I am just so embarrassed that I ever thought I can eventually connect with someone. Now Natsu must be thinking I'm a weirdo, and he will not want to hang out with me.

I run and run. I just want to head back to my apartment, and lock myself in my room and never ever come out again.

But then someone grabs my wrist. As I turn to see who grabs my wrist. It's Natsu. I immediately reach my handbag to grab a piece of paper, but then I realize I don't have any paper left. So I just continue crying and I sign, "you must hate me now. I'm such an embarrassment. I cannot even talk properly."

I look down on the ground. I don't want to read his lips. Whatever he is going to say, he will just leave me anyway. But then he gently lifts my chin so that I can look him in the eyes.

He signs, "Idiot. We're friends. I'm not going to leave you."

My eyes widen. My hand movement becomes rapid as I sign, "you study a sign language?"

He signs, "hey, I've just learnt it very recently, since the day we kissed. Don't move your hands too fast."

I narrow my eyes and signs, "since we kissed? You mean since we met?"

"Told you, I'm still learning."

I just giggle and he scoffs, embarrassed that he has just signed incorrectly, but then I see him grinning as he pats my head.

Maybe after all, I do find someone who can connect with me. We live in the same time zone and place, and apparently we are no longer living in a different world.

END

A/N: I was in the middle of doing assignment, but then I got inspired to write this short fic. Sometimes I just love to leave subtle hints of romance and I think this is my first story that has a happy ending. It's 2 am here, and I'm just too tired to double-check my work. So I do apologize for lots of error. Thank you for reading it till the end.