English Language

My words can kill. Whatever I say comes true. When I was eight, my cruel adoptive father kicked me into an icy river. I glared at him and said furiously, "You'll drown if you go into water." The next day, he drowned in a stinking ditch where the water barely reached his knees. After realizing I could really kill people, I was so scared I stopped talking and became a mute. A year ago, I was taken back to the Shaw family. In order to stay with the family that I'd finally found after all these years, I absolutely refused to speak. But one day, after Jackie Shaw took a sip of the drink I brought him, he suddenly convulsed and fell to the floor, his face turning purple. A maid screamed in terror, "There's peanut powder in the drink!" Before I could even say anything, my twin sister, Violet, kicked the coffee table, grabbed my hair, and pressed me down hard onto the broken glass shards. "You know Jackie is severely allergic to peanuts! How could you poison him?!" After Mom gave Jackie an emergency injection, she turned around and slapped me hard. "I can't believe I gave birth to a malicious monster like you!" Dad's face was ashen. He splashed boiling tea all over me. "You heartless, vicious ingrate! I can't believe you tried to kill Jackie out of jealousy!" Boiling water mixed with blood dripped down my face, and I clenched my teeth tightly. They had no idea that if I truly wanted him dead, I wouldn't even need to poison him. I just had to speak. Like this. I slowly looked up at Jackie, and my lips moved...

ENGLISH TRANSLATION Exelle Kim had returned, not precisely for revenge, but to expand EXellene Royale. She had come back, intending to avoid entanglements with her painful past, yet fate proved itself a cruel force in people's lives. Her path crossed once again with her ex-husband and her first love. She discovered her best friend's betrayal and became aware of the painful truth that both her ex-husband and best friend had kept from her. She insisted on seeking revenge and reclaiming what rightfully belonged to her family. Exelle Kim was determined to regain everything that had once been hers as Xiellenna Mondregal—her family, her memories, her past, and her love. Could she ever escape her past while living as Exelle Kim and triumph over her adversaries? And would she succeed in twisting the cliché plot of her difficult life into a happy ending?

The novel is mainly about the forgotten British poet/writer named C. J Richards who lived in Burma/Myanmar in colonial times and he believed himself as a Burmophile. He served as I.C.S (Indian Civil Servant) and when he retired from I.C.S service, he was a D.C (District Commissioner) and he left for England a year before Burma gained its independence in 1948. He came to Burma in 1920 to work in civil service after passing the hardest I.C.S examination. He wrote several books on Burma and contributed many monthly articles to Guardian Magazine published in Burma from 1953 to 1974 or 1975. Though he wrote several books which had much literary merit to both communities, Britain and Burma (Myanmar), people failed to recognize him. The story has two parts: one part is set in the contemporary Yangon (then called Rangoon) in 2016 context and a young literary enthusiast named “Lin” found out unexpectedly the forgotten writer’s poetry book and there is surely a good deal of time gap that led him into a quest to know more about the author’s life. The setting is quite different comparing to colonial Burma and independence Myanmar (Burma), early twentieth century and 2016 which is a transitional period in Myanmar. The writer’s life is fictionalized in the novel and most of the facts are taken from his personal stories and other reference books. It is a kind of historical novel with a twist and it has comparatively constructed the two different periods in Myanmar history to convince readers, locally and abroad more about history, authorship, humanity, colonialism, and transitional development in Myanmar today.

"Love is; when you look at the person and you knew right away that both of your hearts follows the same beat..."

Sofia Lorie Andres is a 22-year-old former volleyball player who left behind everything because of her unrequited love. She turned her back on everyone to forget the pain and embarrassment she felt because of a woman she loved so much even though she was only considered a best friend. None other than Kristine Aragon, a 23-year-old famous volleyball player in the Philippines. Her best friend caused her heart to beat but was later destroyed. All Sofia Lorie knew Kristine was the only one who caused it all. She is the root cause of why there is a rift between the two of them. Sofia thought about everything they talked about can easily be handled by her, but failed. Because everything she thought was wrong. After two years of her healing process, she also thought of returning to the Philippines and facing everything she left behind. She was ready for what would happen to her when she returned, but the truth wasn’t. Especially when she found out that the woman she once loved was involved in an accident that caused her memories to be erased. The effect was huge, but she tried not to show others how she felt after knowing everything about it. Until she got to the point where she would do the cause of her previous heartache, Role Play. Since she and Rad were determined, they did Role Play, but destiny was too playful for her. She was confused about what was happening, but only one thing came to her mind at those times. She will never do it again because, in the end, she will still be the loser. She is tired of the Role Play game, which she has lost several times. Will the day come when she will feel real love without the slightest pretense?

My mother-in-law could not understand me. Before my business trip, I repeatedly told her not to touch anything in my study, but she mixed up the contract I needed. As a result, I lost a million-dollar order and was fired from my company. To make up for her mistake, she promised she would take care of my child and help me find another job. I froze my milk, labeled everything with notes, and gave her detailed instructions on timing and measurements. However, when my baby ended up in the hospital, I found out that she had thrown out all the milk and fed my baby expired formula instead. Even worse, she fed my baby peanuts behind my back, causing my baby to suffocate and die. Afterward, she wailed, "That was my granddaughter! How could I not care? If I could, I'd die with her..." My husband slapped me, shouting, "My mom worked so hard to take care of the child, and you want to drive her to her death? She's an old woman. It's not easy for her!" My sister-in-law came over too, calling me ungrateful and blaming me for treating an elderly woman badly. She claimed I deserved to be childless and alone. However, they did not know how many times I had stopped my mother-in-law from causing trouble and harm to them. I was driven to depression by them and eventually sent to a mental institution, where I was tortured to death. If I had the chance to do it again, I would protect my child and myself and stop preventing my mother-in-law from causing chaos for others. I would watch her bring equal destruction to each one of them!