3.Lian was remarkably thin; she wore flip-flops, jeans, and a lightweight tank top. Her shiny black hair swept her shoulders. She stood out from the locals mostly because of her height, her white skin and light blue eyes. Otherwise, she would have blended right in. Thais became confused when they saw her. Her almond-shaped eyes, small, full lips, and exotic features clearly indicated that she was one of them, and even her build might have been overlooked, but her blue irises were real and not a trick of the light or the tint of contact lenses. The most bewildering of all was that when spoken to in Thai, she answered, with slight embarrassment, in English. Lian was indeed Thai, but she did not speak her native country’s language.
She had arrived on New Year’s Eve and been in Bangkok for da
