O Sweetheart, 'Tis But The Malay Man's Self-Doubt


Each time she speaks in English, she becomes someone else he can no longer recognize:
Flawless, confident and armed to the teeth with feminine charm.

A persona transformation that rivals superheroes in spandex underwear.

He knew her from way back when. The soft-spoken girl whose choice of words were as awkward as her trying to speak her mind in the native tongue that also bears the shade of her skin. Her luscious barmaid smile, and the homely warmth exuded through the voice of her gentle stare, like a soft candle fire burning through an endless and dark winter night.

Now: sophisticated, articulated and intelligent.

She seems like another language, foreign and distant -- and simply beyond him.