Two days passed without much conversation. Life had gotten in the way — assignments, family errands, the usual. But when MoonInk logged into the app that Sunday afternoon, she noticed something new from IronQuill.
A short story.
She clicked it without hesitation. The title read: "The Girl Who Never Tasted Chicken."
Her lips curled into a smile before she'd even started reading.
It was about a boy who could only cook tea and rice, and a girl who'd been vegetarian her whole life. They met in an online writing group. The boy loved chicken, and one day, the girl — despite never eating meat — decided to cook it for her family. The boy called it an act of "bravery worthy of epic poetry."
As she read on, she noticed details that only she would recognise — the exact words she'd used to describe the marinating smell, the joke about him "thriving" on chai and rice, even the way they'd teased each other about being "love life noobs."
By the time she reached the last line, her heart was beating faster than she wanted to admit:
"They were just two usernames on a screen… but he wondered if, someday, she'd let him call her by her real name."
She didn't reply right away. Instead, she read it again — slowly this time, letting every sentence sink in.
Finally, she sent a message.
MoonInk:So… this story feels familiar.
IronQuill:Does it?
MoonInk:Don't play dumb. That's us.
IronQuill:Maybe. Or maybe it's just fiction inspired by certain… conversations.
MoonInk:Uh-huh. And the boy in the story just happens to drink chai every night and can only cook rice?
IronQuill:Total coincidence.
MoonInk:Liar.
They both knew what it was — not a love confession exactly, but something close. A quiet acknowledgment that their chats had slipped into his writing, and that maybe she'd been living rent-free in his thoughts more than he cared to admit.
That night, neither of them logged off quickly. They stayed, talking about the story, about writing, about nothing and everything — and though no one said the word "love," they didn't have to. It was there, in between the lines.