overheard by a friend

"Yelah, you sorang je betul, orang lain semua salah, you sorang je pandai."

 I dont get it. I had said nothing offensive, at least I don't think so. I didn't cuss or abuse, I didn't even raise my voice, but apparently I had said something wrong.

"and you thought this because?"

 ...she started speaking in Malay, she never speaks Malay unless she's upset. Its always a bad sign when she goes full Malay.

It's like the time she played with scarves, and started wearing them like tudungs on her head, and then asked, "do I look nice? Do I look pretty?" Next thing I knew, I was at lunch with her parents, no warning gave.

I really have no idea what ticked her off this time.

"Why do you bother with these kinds of characters? I thought you used to hate these plastic folk?"

I dont think I ever liked them, but I dont know, maybe its because they're shiny, and attractive?

Or maybe Im shallow, I dont know.

"As a friend, let me remind you what you seem to have forgotten: you're not them, and they're not you. You're forcing yourself to feel miserable day in and day out, just to fit in.."

You know what it feels like? Like a knife scraping off every single bit of myself from my bones, every morning I feel less and less like myself.

"So stop" I cant stop. "of course you can" I cant.

"May god guide you"

In the end, it turned out that he could stop, but not before he lost all respect for himself.

He realised that he was clawing the bottom of an empty well, and looked up, and saw the blue sky through the narrow hole overhead.

His calls for help was heard by a thirsty passerby, who helped him out.

Don't think like I did, he told the traveller, and fall into a hole chasing after a glint you see at the bottom.

They then made their way back to their normal lives.