Hotel Tale- (On Hold)

Of Golf-carts and Discovery

''Huh? Who? What?'' Alice scurried up to the balcony, and leaned against the railing, with Dan following behind. Her eyes followed my finger, and landed on the group.

''The one with the ripped jeans and white T-shirt,'' I said, feeling pleased that she finally saw him. ''That's my bombshell.'' Fully expecting to hear an 'Oh my god! He is gorgeous,' or something along those lines, I waited happily, to listen to absolute silence. Turning around, I found Alice looking transfixed and incredulous, gaping at the boys in shock. ''Uh, hello?'' I asked, wondering why my best friend looked as if she had seen her ex. What if he was her-

Alice gulped several times. I took a quick glance at Dan to see if he was bothered by it all. On the contrary, he looked mildly annoyed. I think I heard him mutter a 'here we go,' under his breath. His girlfriend then grabbed me by the shoulders and stared at me. ''Did you just kiss Jackson Wang?!''

''Uhh..'' I offered, startled. ''Who?''

She pointed at the retreating figure. ''That guy,'' she squeaked. ''The hot one in ripped jeans- you kissed him? He's your pool guy?''

''Well yes. Do we know him?''

Alice smacked her forehead in disdain at my lack of knowledge. ''Where have you been living all of your life, woman? That is Jackson Wang of Got7.''

''Got what?''

''Got7! He's a K-pop idol. The band is Got7. He's frikking famous! I had a crush on him since forever! How could you not know him? I had him as my desktop wallpaper.'' Like many of you readers probably are, Alice is a die-hard K-pop fan. She tried to get me into it several times too. It is not as though I did not enjoy the music- I found it particularly fresh and catchy- it is just that I don't listen to music that often. I tend to busy myself with work, reading and studying literature, so there was never much time in my life for music.

''Alright, I'm off,'' Dan announced waving. No, we took no notice of him.

''Sweetheart, your desktop wallpaper changes daily with a new face on it everytime! You can't expect me to keep track of them all,'' I suddenly trailed off. ''Wait, I do remember him! That's why I told you that he looked familiar. He just caught my eye for some reason.''

''Okay,'' the flustered girl said, fanning herself. She promptly sat down, still craning her neck to catch sight of her idols if they were to appear unannounced. ''I can't believe I just saw Got7. And that my best friend kissed Jackson Wang. You certainly hit the jackpot with this one,'' she added in awe.

''Are you sure he's a K-pop idol?'' I retorted, not able to wrap my head around the news. ''I mean, I am pretty sure he looked more Chinese than Korean.''

''He is,'' Alice responded, oozing knowledge in the subject. ''He's from Hong Kong. K-pop groups sometimes have members from other countries. There's another guy from Thailand too.'' I opened my mouth to speak, but abruptly shut it, finding that I had nothing to say, despite my mind buzzing with a million pressing questions. ''Come, let me tell you about Jackson Wang,'' she said, thoroughly pleased. ''This is my terrain, and I shall teach you all that I know.'' Feeling intimidated by the girl for the first time in my life, I followed her in a daze, clueless about how I was to be blown off my mind.

An hour and half later, Dan found the two of us with both our laptops, a hundred tabs open on them both. I will not repeat all the things Alice told me, or showed me, for I am certain you are absolutely aware of them all; or at least most of it.

''So much for keeping the use of electronic devices to a minimum on this trip,'' Dan grumbled.

''There's exceptions to every rule my dear,'' Alice confessed, kissing him on the cheek. ''And this is an extreme exception.''

''So Jackson stars only in Season 2 of Roommate?'' I interrupted, unable to think of anything out of the topic at hand. Alice nodded in assent, and assured that she had already copied the entire season onto my Desktop. ''Why is there a video of Jackson and Youngee, or Younji, or whoever?'' I asked suspiciously, frowning at the screen.

''Sweetheart, he's a K-pop idol, he will be objectified in every possible way on the internet; there's no stopping it! I mean, there's this whole thing called fan-fiction where-'' Alice halted abruptly, a sheepish look on her face. ''Nevermind that,'' she said hastily, drawing my attention to several other Jackson-related online material. (It was much later that I understood her reluctance to discuss Jackson fan-fiction with me...)