#A Thousand Suns Asian Tour

[feelingsofaithless]

[nitsaholidays]

Island Hopping in Thailand: Discovering Paradise in the Land of a Thousand Smiles

Thailand, known as the "Land of a Thousand Smiles," is a captivating destination that offers a blend of rich cultural heritage, stunning natural beauty, and vibrant city life. One of the best ways to experience the diversity of this Southeast Asian gem is by embarking on an unforgettable island-hopping adventure. With customized international tour packages, you can explore Thailand's paradisiacal islands, each offering a unique slice of heaven. Join us as we dive into the tropical waters, bask in the sun, and uncover the magic of Thailand's islands.

1. Planning Your Island-Hopping Adventure:

Before you set sail on your Thai island-hopping adventure, careful planning is essential. Discuss the options with your travel agent to create a customized itinerary that suits your preferences and budget. From the bustling streets of Bangkok to the tranquil shores of Phuket, your journey begins with a well-thought-out plan.

2. Phuket: The Pearl of the Andaman Sea:

Start your adventure in Phuket, Thailand's largest island. Here, you can explore vibrant markets, visit ornate temples, and savor delectable Thai cuisine. Make sure to spend some time on the island's beautiful beaches like Patong and Kata Beach.

3. Krabi: A Rock Climber's Paradise:

From Phuket, hop over to Krabi, known for its dramatic limestone cliffs and crystal-clear waters. Customized tour packages can include rock climbing adventures, island-hopping boat trips, and visits to the stunning Railay Beach.

4. Phi Phi Islands: Tropical Bliss:

The Phi Phi Islands are a must-visit on any island-hopping tour. With turquoise waters, limestone karsts, and vibrant marine life, these islands offer a slice of tropical paradise. Explore Maya Bay, snorkel in pristine waters, and unwind on the soft, white sands.

5. Koh Samui: Laid-Back Luxury:

Koh Samui is a tropical haven offering luxury resorts, vibrant nightlife, and serene beaches. Customize your trip to include spa treatments, yoga retreats, and beachfront dining for a truly relaxing experience.

6. Koh Tao: Diving Delights:

If you're a diving enthusiast, Koh Tao should be on your itinerary. It's renowned for its affordable diving courses and breathtaking underwater scenery. Explore coral reefs, encounter colorful marine life, and earn your diving certification.

7. Bangkok: A Cityscape of Contrasts:

End your island-hopping adventure with a few days in the bustling capital city of Bangkok. Explore the Grand Palace, stroll through vibrant markets, and savor street food delights.

Conclusion:

Thailand's island-hopping adventure is a journey of a lifetime, made even more memorable with Nitsa Holidays. With customized international tour packages from Nitsa Holidays, you can experience the best of this beautiful country, from the tranquility of its islands to the vibrancy of its cities. Get ready to uncover the magic of Thailand's paradisiacal islands and create lasting memories in the Land of a Thousand Smiles with Nitsa Holidays by your side. Read more

[inspiringvacationstours]

7 Must-See Cape York Tour Destinations

Welcome, fellow adventurers and explorers! If you're itching to embark on a journey of a lifetime, then Cape York should be right at the top of your travel bucket list. This remote and wild corner of Australia offers an incredible mix of breathtaking landscapes, rich history, and unique wildlife. 

Today, we're diving into 7 must-see destinations that will make your discovery tours cape york an unforgettable experience.

Quinkan Country: Exploring Ancient Rock Art

As you set foot on Cape York soil, make sure to include a visit to Quinkan Country in your itinerary. Home to thousands of years of Aboriginal rock art, this UNESCO World Heritage site offers a fascinating glimpse into the lives and stories of the First Nations people. The vibrant ochre paintings come alive under the Australian sun, showcasing intricate depictions of animals, spirits, and human figures.

The Tip: Standing at the Northernmost Point

Cape York isn't just a destination; it's a journey, and the ultimate goal of many adventurers is to reach the Tip. Standing proudly at the northernmost point of the Australian continent is an experience that words can't quite capture. The exhilaration of gazing out at the merging of two vast oceans, the Coral Sea and the Arafura Sea, is something you'll carry with you forever.

Fruit Bat Falls: A Natural Oasis

Escape the heat and unwind at Fruit Bat Falls, a hidden gem in the heart of Cape York. The crystal-clear waters, lush vegetation, and the chance to swim alongside friendly fish create an idyllic setting. It's the perfect spot to relax and rejuvenate before continuing your Cape York adventure.

Lakefield National Park: Breathtaking Biodiversity

Nature enthusiasts, get ready to be amazed at Lakefield National Park. Covering a vast area, this park is a sanctuary for countless bird species, crocodiles, and other native animals. Embark on a 4x4 safari through its diverse landscapes, from savannah woodlands to wetlands, and witness nature's beauty unfold before your eyes.

Cape Melville: Otherworldly Rock Formations

For a taste of otherworldly landscapes, Cape Melville delivers in spades. Its massive granite boulders perched atop sandstone cliffs create an almost surreal scenery. Explore the unique flora and fauna that have adapted to this harsh environment, and be sure to capture some breathtaking photos of the juxtaposition between the ancient rocks and the clear blue sky.

Thursday Island: A Cultural Hub

While not on the Cape itself, a visit to Thursday Island is a must to understand the region's cultural tapestry. The island, with its mix of Indigenous, Asian, and European influences, offers a chance to learn about the Torres Strait Islander way of life. Immerse yourself in the vibrant markets, taste the local cuisine, and explore the history that shaped this unique community.

Jardine River National Park: Where Wilderness Meets Adventure

For those seeking a more adventurous experience, Jardine River National Park is the answer. This park is a haven for 4x4 enthusiasts, with challenging tracks that wind through lush rainforests and lead to stunning viewpoints. Cross the iconic Jardine River by ferry and feel the rush of accomplishment as you conquer the untamed terrain.

Conclusion

So, dear travellers, whether you're an avid nature lover, a history buff, or an adrenaline junkie, Cape York tours offer something truly special. From ancient rock art to breathtaking landscapes, there's a little bit of magic waiting for you at every turn. 

Pack your sense of adventure and a spirit of curiosity, and get ready to explore one of Australia's most incredible destinations. Book your Cape York tour today and unlock the door to a world of wonder!

Don't miss out on the adventure of a lifetime! Book your Cape York tours today and discover the beauty and excitement of Australia's northernmost gem.

Source: 7 Must-See Cape York Tour Destinations

[risingpakistan1947]

Wagah Border Parade and Flag Lowering Ceremony

The Wagah Border is a famous border crossing between India and Pakistan, located near the city of Lahore. It holds immense historical and cultural significance for both nations and symbolizes their troubled past. Every day, thousands of people gather on either side to witness the ceremonial closing of the gates by border guards from both countries. The highlight of this ceremony is the Wagah Border Parade, also known as the "Beating Retreat Ceremony." It takes place every evening before sunset and showcases an elaborate display of military drills, synchronized marching, and flag-lowering ceremonies. The enthusiasm and patriotic fervor exhibited by spectators on both sides create an electrifying atmosphere. Apart from its symbolic importance, the Wagah Border also serves as a major trade route between India and Pakistan. The border gate opens for limited hours each day to facilitate cross-border trade activities. This not only boosts economic ties between the two countries but also allows people from both sides to connect with their relatives across borders. The Wagah Border Lahore is a significant landmark reflecting the shared history, strained relations, and aspirations for peace between India and Pakistan. Its daily parade attracts tourists from all over who are intrigued by this unique spectacle at one of the world's most noteworthy international boundaries.

Discover Lahore City With Wagah Border & Lahore Fort

The Historical Significance of the Border Ceremony

The historical significance of the border ceremony at Wagah Border Lahore, Pakistan, is deeply rooted in the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947. This ceremony symbolizes the division between the two nations. The Wagah Border itself was once a main transit point between Lahore and Amritsar and witnessed large-scale migration during the partition. The daily flag-lowering ceremony conducted by both Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and Pakistani Rangers attracts thousands of spectators from both sides who gather to witness this unique event. It is an elaborate display of nationalistic pride, military precision, and theatrical gestures that have become an integral part of South Asian culture. The intense rivalry between India and Pakistan is epitomized in this event, where soldiers from both sides engage in marches, high kicks, chest thumps, and lowering flags with great solemnity. While primarily a patriotic display today, it is important to acknowledge the historical significance behind this border ceremony as it reflects upon a tumultuous period that reshaped South Asia forever. Minar-e-Pakistan Lahore

The Daily Flag-lowering Ceremony

The daily flag-lowering ceremony at the Wagah Border in Lahore, Pakistan is a spectacle that attracts crowds of locals and tourists alike. Located on the Grand Trunk Road between India and Pakistan, this border crossing is known for its elaborate and highly choreographed event that takes place every evening before sunset. As the sun begins to set, soldiers from both sides march toward the border gate with great pomp and showmanship. Dressed in their traditional military uniforms, complete with colorful turbans and polished boots, they engage in a synchronized display of high kicks, stomping movements, and aggressive posturing. The atmosphere is electrifying as patriotic songs blaring through loudspeakers, stirring up emotions among the spectators. This flag-lowering ceremony serves as a symbol of national pride for both countries. It showcases not only military prowess but also serves as a reminder of their shared history and ongoing tensions. The audience watches in awe as the flags are lowered simultaneously by soldiers from India and Pakistan amidst thunderous applause and cheers from the crowd. It is an experience that leaves visitors with a lasting impression of the passion and fervor that runs deep within these two nations.

Lahore Full-Day Sightseeing Tour

Wagah border parade time, tickets, and booking

The Wagah border parade, widely regarded as one of the most enthralling displays of patriotism in the world, is a must-see spectacle for anyone visiting India or Pakistan. Known as the “Beating Retreat Ceremony,” this daily event takes place at sunset on the India-Pakistan border near Lahore and Amritsar. The ceremony celebrates the closing of the international gates between the two countries and showcases an intense display of military drill movements accompanied by synchronized flag-lowering. To be a part of this awe-inspiring experience, it's important to know the Wagah border timings and ticketing details. Wagah border parade time for summers is 5:30 PM while timings for winter is 4:30 PM. It's advisable to arrive at least two hours in advance due to heavy crowds. Wagah border tickets are available free of cost, and seating can be availed on a first-come-first-served basis. If you prefer not to book in advance or if there are no available tickets left for your desired date, don't worry! There is always room for spectators on both sides of the gate where you can stand and enjoy an unobstructed view of all proceedings. Masjid Wazir Khan Lahore

Security Measures and Tensions at the Border

The Wagah Border serves as a significant checkpoint between Pakistan and India. Due to the strained relationship between the two countries, security measures at this border are particularly intense. A wide range of security protocols has been implemented to ensure the safety and protection of both nations. At the Wagah Border, one can witness tight security arrangements such as barbed wire fences, watchtowers equipped with surveillance cameras, and heavily armed soldiers patrolling the area. In addition to these physical measures, strict visa regulations are enforced on both sides to control cross-border movement. This ensures that only authorized individuals can enter or exit through this checkpoint. However, despite efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region through heightened security measures, tensions often flare up at this border due to historical conflicts and political differences between India and Pakistan. Incidents like protests by nationalist groups or occasional ceasefire violations along the border add further strain to an already volatile situation. As a result, maintaining effective security becomes an ongoing challenge for both countries to prevent any potential threats from escalating into major conflicts.

2 Days Private Guided Tour in Lahore

Impact on Tourism and Local Economy

The Wagah Border in Lahore, Pakistan holds immense significance for both tourism and the local economy. As one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country, it draws a large number of visitors from all over the world. The spectacular daily flag-lowering ceremony between India and Pakistan is a major draw for tourists, providing an opportunity to witness this unique event and experience the patriotic fervor that surrounds it. This influx of tourists not only boosts revenue through ticket sales but also contributes to various ancillary industries such as transportation, accommodation, food, and souvenir shops. Moreover, the presence of tourists at the Wagah Border has a direct positive impact on the local economy. Local vendors set up stalls selling traditional handicrafts, clothing items, accessories, and other souvenirs near the border area. These small businesses thrive due to increased footfall from both domestic and international tourists. Additionally, nearby restaurants and eateries benefit from serving meals to hungry visitors who often seek out local cuisine after witnessing the flag-lowering ceremony. Overall, tourism at Wagah Border plays a vital role in stimulating economic growth by creating employment opportunities and generating income for locals involved in various sectors linked to tourism. The top 10 best places to visit in Lahore Read the full article

[inboundtravelvietnam]

Hanoi Night Tour Best Tours to Explore the Capital City's Nightlife

Join us after dark as the city lights up for these 6 Hanoi night tour. A vibrant evening of local food and laughter, or a peaceful night in the city's cultural center is up to you.

If you are in the capital city and interested in exploring the place's enchanting nightlife, these are the 6 best Hanoi night tours to consider. Experience unique activities that are only available after sundown, and let these unforgettable trips reveal different facets of the city. 

Hanoi Night Tour #1: Giải Mã Hoàng Thành Thăng Long

Built in the 11th century, Thăng Long Imperial Citadel symbolized the independence of the Đại Việt (Great Việt) nation. For nearly 13 consecutive centuries, this area was the political epicenter of the country, witness of countless significant historical events. Today, it is a still-standing representation of a distinct Southeast Asian civilization particular to the lower Red River Delta. The structures and their remnants were listed among the UNESCO World Heritage in August 2010, and are now located at the 18 Hoang Dieu archaeological site.

Decoding The Imperial Citadel Of Thang Long Night Tour

The Hanoi night tour, named Decoding the Imperial Citadel of Thăng Long, is available every weekend at 7 PM. The 1.5-hour tour begins at Đoan Môn (Main Gate), the entrance of Cấm Thành (Forbidden City), or the king’s residence. Through the tour guide, visitors learn about the history, architecture, and uses of the area. 

Upon arrival at the archaeological excavation site, a welcoming traditional dance is presented on the glass covering the area. Visitors are then given a tour of the dig, which contains artifacts from the Ly, Tran and Le dynasties. A trip to an exhibition hall with rare relics, some over a thousand years old, is also included.

The Hanoi night tour ends with a laser light show showcasing Thăng Long Imperial Citadel's most notable artifacts. There is also a minigame in which visitors must identify common items from feudal dynasties in the past.

 

Hanoi Night Tour #2: Double-decker Bus Night Tour

The double-decker bus tour, departing daily from 8 AM to 8.30 PM, is an unforgettable experience for any tourist visiting the capital city. The open-air, 80-seat double-decker buses make 12-15 stops and visit around over 20 iconic landmarks in only an hour. Due to the walking street nearby, there will be 2 alternative weekday and weekend departure points and routes. The bus will typically stop at these following attractions, allowing travelers to explore and experience the city in their leisure:

Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square – Hoàn Kiếm Lake (Mon - Fri)

Hanoi Opera House – (Sat - Sun)

Le Thai To’s Statue

St. Joseph’s Cathedral

The Flag Tower of Hanoi

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Quan Thanh Temple

Tran Quoc Pagoda

Cua Bac Church

The Imperial Citadel of Thang Long

One Pillar Pagoda

The Temple of Literature

Hoa Lo Prison Relic

Museum of Vietnamese Women

Hanoi Opera House

Hanoi Post Office

Bus Night Tour Hanoi

The bus has accessible seating for the young, old, and physically disabled. An itinerary map, multi-languages audio guides & headsets are available for tourists to learn more of the attractions. If interested, one can choose whether or not to get off the ride and explore the site on their own. The bus is also equipped with free wifi, air conditioning and a guide staff for a more comfortable ride. 

Tickets are available for purchase at Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc Square, 7 Dinh Tien Hoang Street, or at a kiosk on 51 Ly Thai To Street.

 

Hanoi Night Tour #3: Inbound Vietnam's Food Tour At Night

Finding your way around Hanoi's crowded streets might be difficult on your own, especially when there's a lot of different Vietnamese culinary options to try. Here at Inbound Vietnam, visitors need only follow our insider's guide to some of Hanoi's finest food stands and eateries. 

For our Hanoi night tour, you can choose your hotel's departure time along with the foods you wish to avoid. A foodie as your guide guarantees you can experience all of the delicacies that make Hanoi a top culinary destination. And while filling up on the best street food the capital has to offer, you can take in the locals' and the city's nightlife.

https://v2.inboundvietnam.com//Web/Resources/Uploaded/1/images/News/TravelGuide/Hanoi-Street-Food-Tour.jpg

Hanoi Food Tour At Night with Inbound Vietnam

The Old Quarter, with its small lanes and antique brick homes, is the heart of our night food tour. The area is a maze of narrow streets that were once a hub for merchants and artisans. Many take their names from the commodities that were traded there, like Hang Go (Wood Product), Hang Ga (Chicken), Hang Chao (Porridge), to name a few. 

There is an active effort from the area to accommodate Hanoi's dynamic atmosphere, while still holding on to its unique and nostalgic way of life. There are no skyscrapers or upscale shops; instead, the streets are a bit smaller so expect occasional traffic. At the end of our Hanoi night tour, you are free to explore the area on your own. So take your time, and enjoy the modest but no less vibrant and bustling nightlife.

 

Hanoi Night Tour #4: Hoa Lo Prison Relic

The historical site Hoa Lo Prison, also known among locals as "Hell on Earth", is a more thrilling destination to visit. This Hanoi night tour will expose visitors to the cruelty of the French colonial prison during their warfare with Vietnam. Though construction barely finished in 1899, tens of thousands of Vietnamese revolutionary soldiers and activists had been imprisoned since. Under inhumane conditions and tortures, not many had made it out alive. 

Hoa Lo Prison which brings you closer to the experiences of its prisoners than ever before. 

Travel back in time for 80 minutes as visitors witness the colonial prison's brutality and the honorable sacrifice of national heroes during the Indochina wars. There is also a unique spiritual area built after the war for locals to honor their predecessors. Although Hoa Lo is open for daytime tours, the night visits offer a truly unique experience. Light and sound effects are used to stimulate an eerie night atmosphere in the relic area, promising to evoke the audience’s emotions and senses.

The Hoa Lo Prison night tours open from 7 PM every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 1 Hoa Lo Street. Due to high demand, travelers should reserve tickets 3-4 days in advance to avoid missing out on this unique experience.

 

Hanoi Night Tour #5: Vietnam Literature Museum

This one-of-a-kind Hanoi night tour brings visitors back to the golden age of Vietnamese literature. The 90-minute visit takes place in the Vietnam Literature Museum, a 3,000-square-meter space displaying over 3,454 artifacts from generations of renowned Vietnamese authors and cultural figures.

The tour begins with a visit to the gardens of 20 influential figures in Vietnamese literature. Then, visitors can carry the Tam (Soul) and Tai (Talent) symbols written on a traditional lantern to move to the Temple of Vietnamese Literature, also known as the ancient and medieval Vietnamese literary venue. The tour guide will show the preserved ancient bibliographies, the two "Declarations of Independence" from past dynasties, and discuss the use of Vietnamese's Nom and Chinese characters in literature. The temple also features a section dedicated to the great poet Nguyen Du and his 'Kieu story', as well as a poetry reading activity.

Hà Nội's first ever literature tour launched

The literary tour will then lead visitors to the Critical Realism Literature space on the second floor of the museum. There will be a short theater scene from the story 'Chi Pheo' and an area dedicated to President Ho Chi Minh and his poetry. Tourists can also learn about Vietnam's most prominent writers and their best-known works, such as children's novelist To Hoai's 'Diary of a Cricket', or poet-playwright Luu Quang Vu and poet Xuan Quynh.

Visitors can choose to finish the tour with a number of activities, from crossword puzzles, calligraphy, to tea ceremony. This Hanoi night tour is designed not only for those who are interested in Vietnamese literature, but also for people of all ages to deepen their understanding of literature.

The Vietnam Literature Museum is located at 275 Au Co Street, Tay Ho District. The tour opens every Saturday and Sunday, and entry price for adults is currently 150,000 VND (6.3 USD). 

 

Hanoi Night Tour #6: Dao Ngoc - Ngu Xa Food and Pedestrian Zone

Dao Ngoc - Ngu Xa, an islet on Truc Bach Lake in the Ba Dinh District, is Hanoi's latest nighttime food and pedestrian zone. The zone encompasses two streets, Ngu Xa and Nguyen Khac Hieu, traversing the center of the 4.5ha Dao Ngoc islet.

Dao Ngoc Ngu Xa night food street in Hanoi

The area was already well-known among locals for its existing restaurants and the Pho spring roll dish. Travelers can expect new eateries, beverage shops and market activities from the Ngu Xa community. There will also be cultural events on the weekend, so get ready for a new culinary and cultural destination in the district.

Dao Ngoc - Ngu Xa will be open on Friday (6 - 10 PM), Saturday and Sunday (7 AM - 10 PM). Similar to the walking street at Hoan Kiem lake, the zone will be closed to vehicles to serve pedestrians only.

[emiratesviisa]

All you need to know about Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi

Emirates Palace is maintained by the Kempinski group, the pride of Abu Dhabi, by making the city vibrant and touristy. It resembles an architectural display of the wealth and opulence of the Arabs, emphasizing their hospitality, gastronomy, and other delights. Over a thousand hectares in size, Emirates Palace is proud to house two cutting-edge spas where guests may indulge in luxury, temperature-controlled swimming pools, underground parking, a marina, and a helipad. Visitors of all ages are entertained at the Emirates Palace. Children can spend the entire day engaging in play activities in the kids club located here. To visit this magnificent palace you’ll require an emirates visa for Morocco citizens.

Water sports including windsurfing, water skiing, kayaking, and paddle boarding are always welcome for sports enthusiasts staying at the Kempinski. The Emirates Palace is overpowering and fascinating when the sun's glaze, which is like a mountain of gold, descends on it. In 2005, the public may check into the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi, which had up to 394 rooms and suites available. The structure is built as a tribute to the desert and has about 114 domes that are gilded in marble and gold. The property is designed with palm tree paths and lovely fountains, and it is surrounded by seas of the Arabian Gulf.

Tips to follow before visiting Emirates Palace

1. Bookings for the Emirates Palace Tour must be made far in advance. To guarantee a spot, it is best to make an online reservation.

2. It is a good idea to schedule your visit to Emirates Palace for a weekday rather than a weekend because of the heavy weekend traffic.

3. To ensure that you have a pleasant time despite the crowds, you must reserve a table in advance at the restaurant.

4. In certain places, dress codes are tightly adhered to. Shorts and slippers are prohibited in those areas. It is preferable to wear smart casual attire. The head, leg, and shoulders of women must be covered.

5. For safety reasons, children are not allowed to dive into swimming pools.

Best time to visit the Emirates

Palace 

Since Emirates Palace is open every day of the year, it can be visited at any time. The Middle East Asian nations experience their busiest travel season from November to January. At this time, there are a lot of tourists around and you can also get an emirates visa for Morocco passport holders.

How to reach Emirates Palace

The distance between Abu Dhabi Airport and Emirates Palace is about 37 kilometers, and there are numerous methods to get there. One of the least expensive choices involves riding a bus from Airport Terminal 1 to Al Rawdhah, followed by another bus that travels roughly 1.5 hours from Abu Dhabi's Zayed Sports Stadium to Corniche Street. The quickest ways to get to the Emirates Palace are by town cars and taxis. You will be dropped off at the Emirates Palace in 25 minutes.

Things to do at Emirates Palace

All of the hotel's guests, whether they are from Abu Dhabi or elsewhere, will be astounded by its extreme opulence. Visitors can spend the day engaging in a variety of recreational and athletic pursuits at the Beach Club. It is the ideal location for an unforgettable vacation, a picture-perfect dream wedding, or unusual events. The largest conference and meeting rooms in the entire world are included.

Hospitality

The Kempinski group's opulent hotel has staked its reputation on providing opulence and comfort. You will appreciate the excellent service, which includes personal butlers, in-room dining, and individualized support. Spending a few days at the Emirates Palace will provide you with priceless memories.

Go for a spa treatment for relaxation

At the Emirates Palace, one of the most opulent locations in Abu Dhabi, you may indulge in a spa treatment to unwind and refresh. With extravagance and grandeur all around, the spa not only calms frayed nerves but also gives you a royal treatment with the use of custom ingredients and Moroccan oil. The swimming pool at the Emirates Palace is another great place to unwind. It makes the area even more beautiful. Only hotel guests who are staying there are allowed to use this pristine and hygienic pool. So treat yourself like a guest and enjoy all the amenities offered at the Emirates palace in Abu Dhabi.

Dining

The Emirates Palace offers a variety of eating alternatives. One's preference for food can range from Indian to Italian, Chinese to continental fare. It features a variety of carefully chosen distinctive restaurants, some of which have won recognition for their unique cuisine and warm hospitality around the world. The most popular restaurants among visitors to Emirates Palace include Las Brisas, Hakkasan, Martabaan By Hemant Trivedi, Le Vendome, BBQ Al Qasr, Cascades, and Mawal.

Exotic Nightlife

With a few well-chosen bars, pubs, and clubhouses that play foot-tapping music while serving up superb food and drinks, Emirates Palace is well known for its nightlife. Along with Waves and Ray's Club, the Havana Club and Cigar House are favorites with tourists.

Best Restaurants in Emirates Palace

1.Mezzaluna Italian Restaurant 

When you walk into this restaurant, you are immediately greeted by a large typical North Italian vibe. Mezzaluna, voted and recognized annually as one of Abu Dhabi's top Italian eateries, does more than just fill customers' bellies. Italian specialties that are created are lovingly offered to suit your individual palette. Lamb loin stuffed and baked, Paccheri pasta with lobster and pizza Margherita with olives, asparagus, and langoustine are among the highlights.

2. Le Vendome

The skilled chef at the Le Vendome is renowned for creating stars rather than just ordinary dishes. Fresh seasonal products and hand-selected foods are served here all day long in addition to an excellent international buffet. A variety of nutritious salads, sandwiches, substantial curries, and soups are available. When seated in the sophisticated sitting arrangement amid winding hallways and sunny outdoor patios with views of the hotel's private beach and opulent marina, you immediately feel pampered!!

To get an amazing experience of Emirates Palace one can apply emirates visa for Morocco nationals. 

[sameers91]

Top mistakes to avoid by choosing the top Maldives specialists

Maldives is a peaceful archipelago in the Indian Ocean that boasts of clear and emerald waters. Their beautiful beaches that stretch beyond the eyesight and has luxurious overwater bungalows and hence makes for an idyllic sanctuary.

Choosing the Maldives specialists for planning your trip to the nation means that you can enjoy the lovely sights and exciting adventure activities like snorkeling, scuba diving, etc. It can also be your answer to enjoy a lovely vacation lounging on the beaches while basking in the glorious sunsets.

With specialists, it is easy to choose from the numerous Maldives packages. This ensures that you can easily make the most of your time in this topical paradise. 

Mistakes to avoid while holidaying in Maldives 

Here are some of the common mistakes to avoid when planning a Maldives honeymoon – 

 ·         Avoid visiting only one island 

The primary mistake that most couples make during their trip to this paradise is that they choose only one island for their trip. However, most resorts are located on their own private island. It is not uncommon to see that one island has its own unique resort.

Also, Maldives is home to at least a thousand uninhabited islands while only 200 are actually inhabited. So it is best to opt for booking multiple resorts and charter a boat or book a tour to the nearby atolls. This is possible only through the top Maldives specialists.

 ·         Assuming that the island is not budget-friendly

Although Maldives has a reputation for being an ultra-luxurious destination. It is also easy to travel to the island on a budget. To visit on a budget, choose to stay at a local guest house. Further cut down the expenses by avoid chartering yachts.

Instead opt for easy and affordable activities like planting corals, snorkel, etc.

 ·         Going only on your honeymoon

The dreamy underwater life, romantic sunsets, etc. makes the destination a top honeymoon destination. However, you must not wait for getting married to book a trip to the location.

Take a trip before your wedding, bachelorette, family escape or second honeymoon. Maldives is a place of your dreams that allows you to leave the baggage behind and take a luxurious vacation to the beautiful destination.

Similarly, you must book a localized cruise ship or houseboat to enjoy the cerulean waters. You can also take coaching from the dive and surf instructors. Also, an on-site masseuse or sommelier can help you forget the worries and enjoy a relaxing time with your loved ones.

 ·         Avoiding the local and cultural attractions.

 Maldives is known as a perfect beach destination that has amazing cultural heritage thanks to South Asian influences. Similarly, the impact of Sri Lankan, Malaysian and African heritage cannot be ignored.

You must hire a local guide or expert to get a walkthrough of the amazing Maldivian heritage by listening to the music and dance. You can also drop by to enjoy the local delicacies or take a trip to the beautiful beaches.

 ·         Forgetting the sunscreen

Maldives is a stunning island yet the same is close to the equator. Without the sunscreen, the sun rays can beat you down by 90 degree angle. You must reapply the sunscreen frequently to save yourself from the harsh impact of the sun. Opt for comfortable clothes and hats to add to your safety.

[kleefairy]

so since a while back there was that whole thousands of graves from residential schools in canada news a while back and people finally decided to remember the pain and suffering indigenous people have been forced to go through...

hey guys remember when simblr had a racist bitch fit bc indigenous ppl don’t all perfectly fit in to their disney’s pocahontas stereotype? remember when y’all were totally down with validating colonization and genocide by calling people “white natives” and saying with your whole chests that anyone who doesn’t “look indigenous” (and what, exactly, do indigenous people look like?) isn’t allowed to claim their ancestry, race, ethnicity, and culture.

anyways not-so-friendly reminder that indigenous americans (and aboriginal australians honestly bc same shit different continent, the systematic destruction of indigenous people and their cultures was practically universal) were the victims of genocide in the form of residential schools, ripping children - esp mixed raced children - from their families, cultural erasure, and heavy attempts to “breed out the savage” by breeding in white european traits over multiple generations. not-so-friendly reminder that indigenous americans come in every race and shade, from white to asian to black to visibly mixed to every other phenotype under the sun. not-so-friendly reminder that this is due to hundreds of years of oppression, destruction, and - i must add - forced marriage (and rape) of indigenous women to white european men and, then, kidnapping of their lighter-skinned children to forcibly adopt them to white christian families in order to systematically destroy every last vestige of indigenous culture and blood ties. not-so-friendly reminder of the thousands of murdered and missing indigenous women and children who are never found (or only found decades later through sheer luck alone) because of racism, police violence (ever heard of starlight tours?), and fucked up law loopholes that allow this bullshit?

do you guys remember all that? ‘cos i do. i have to. some of y’all need to sit and think for a fucking minute before you open your mouths, and do fucking better. if the people who think this kind of bullshit had their way, there would be no indigenous people left.

[yikesharringrove]

Zoo date as requested by @xgardensinspace

Here is a link to my post about Harringrove for BLM, and here is a link to Writers/Artists Against Police Brutality

Here’s also a link to the Masterlist of Harringrove for BLM coutesy of @harringrovetrashh

Thank you all for organizing, participating, and donating. 

-

Modern au

Please ignore my rhino facts I love them so much

Steve’s encounter with + reaction to the rhino is based on me from a few years ago

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“Wait, this is, this is where you’re taking me?”

Billy was pulling into a spot in the parking lot of the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park.

“Yeah. You’ve never been to this one, and I know how much you love a zoo.” Steve was vibrating in his seat.

This was one of the best zoos in the country.

He chucked off his seatbelt, making Billy laugh as he scrambled out of the car.

He danced around as he waited for Billy to grab the backpack he had put together for the day, before taking his wrist and dragging him to the ticket counter.

“Baby, I already got us tickets.” Billy shuffled him to the gate, jostling him past the birds at the beginning of the park. “We’re on a schedule, Pretty Boy. Gotta be there in ten.” He led Steve to the Ranger Base, walking up to the ticket window.

“Hi, we’re in the 10 am caravan group.” The woman behind the counter took their tickets, pointed them to another group a little ways away.

“Wait, are we doing one of the tours?” Steve was sitting close next to Billy, all pressed up against him. Billy kissed his forehead.

“You’ll see.”

Their tour leader began explaining a few of the rules of the caravan to them, shuffled them aboard, and set off across the park, leading to the large open African Plains.

Steve cooed at all the buffalo, taking picture after picture of any baby animals they saw, getting yelled at when he excitedly almost stood up in the moving truck.

“So, a few things about feeding the giraffes.” Billy could feel Steve begin wiggling next to him. “You each get three pieces of lettuce. Stand like this, hold the lettuce out, and let the giraffe take it from you. Do not touch the giraffe’s face or neck or anything.”

“Wait, Bill we get to, to feed them?” People had formed a line as one of the giraffes came loping slowly towards them.

“Yeah, this is like, the extra bitchin’ tour. You get to see all the animals real close, and feed ‘em and stuff.” Billy’s mom had taken him when he was little.

Steve was staring up at the giraffe, the first few people posing as the people they were with took pictures of them with the giraffe. Billy pushed him forward a little, taking about a fucking million pictures of Steve looking like a little kid, so fucking excited to feed the tall baby. Billy gave him one of his lettuce pieces so that he would keep smiling like that.

The caravan rattled on, transitioning to the Asian Savanna.

“Oh, my, God. Bill look at the rhino. Bill look.” Steve was slapping his arm. The guide laughed at him.

“You a fan of rhinos?”

“I love them. They’re my favorite.”

“Well, you’re in luck.” The cart stopped as the huge black rhino began lumbering towards them. “So, to feed Edison, our adult male Indian Black Rhino, wait for him to open his mouth, and toss a piece of apple in there for him. Everyone gets four pieces.”

Steve’s eyes were huge.

“You can touch his horn gently, but do not touch his eyes or nose. And he has the jaw power to rip your hand right off, so don’t put any fingers in his mouth.”

Steve’s fingers were tight around Billy’s wrist.

“Indian black rhinos come from northern India, Nepal, and Easter Pakistan. They have one thick horn, whereas African white rhinos have two long thin ones. Unlike most horned animals, a rhino’s horn is not made from bone. It is made from keratin, the same as your hair and fingernails, so it’s essentially like one big fingernail on it’s face.” Steve was nodding along. He knew probably every fact about the different kinds of rhinos. “White rhinos are typically larger, but the black male rhino has an average weight of nearly five thousand pounds.”

The rhino had approached the caravan. Steve was titled over the edge, staring at the thing.

“The Indian black rhino is now longer classified as endangered after the conservation efforts in the Indian subcontinent over the past two or so decades, unlike the northern white rhinos, with a population of two. Here at the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, we are making conservation efforts in our frozen zoo, where we keep genetic samples from thousands of species. We are currently working on a way to artificially inseminate a female black rhino, or a southern white rhino with a northern white rhino fetus in order to try and grow the population that way.”

Steve was hanging onto his every fucking word.

They let everyone line up before them, Steve was too busy just fucking staring at the animal while he listened to the guide’s speech to move, apparently.

“See, this is why I got us on this one. Knew you’d lose your damn mind if you got to feed a rhino.” The guide handed Steve a few extra pieces of apple, shooting him a wink.

Billy stood behind him as he leaned over the side of the caravan, tossing apple into the rhino’s mouth, patting his horn.

“You’re the sweetest baby in the world. I love you so much. You are perfect, and amazing.” Billy stifled a laugh as he filmed Steve.

When he finally stood up he was fucking holding back tears.

“I just, I love them so much.”

“I know, Baby.” He put one arm around Steve’s shoulder on the ride back to the rest of the zoo.

Steve must’ve thanked the guide about a million times before they set off to do a loop around the park, stopped for close to twenty minutes in the petting zoo so that Steve could pet a little black goat.

Billy lost his fucking mind in the reptile house, spent at least a few minutes with his nose pressed to the glass of every terrarium.

“Stevie, fucking look at that tiny baby.”

The tiny baby in question was a twelve foot anaconda.

Steve kept his distance as Billy cooed over some scorpions, called a Goliath birdeater tarantula a beautiful boy. Steve knew his taste in animals was odd, but then They passed by the giant old tortoises, and Billy went berserk.

“They look like sweet little men. What amazing gentlemen. They are kind and wise.” He was passionately gesturing at the creatures, leaning over the rail around the enclosure.

Steve can’t fault Billy for going all soft at the desert cat nursery, as Steve was shoulder to shoulder with him as they smushed up against the glass to look at the tiny little things.

In the Australia section of the park, Billy only used an Aussie accent, would make Steve laugh because it was actually really good. He would make his voice all deep and say wallaby all drawn out, just to make Steve’s smile get bigger. Steve gasped when they saw the platypus.

“I didn’t think these were even real.”

“Are you serious?” Billy still had that fucking accent.

“Yeah. I mean, they sound so silly. They’re like, a duck and a beaver and a snake. They’re weird little hybrids with venom, Bill. Venom.” They watched the awkward little thing waddle across the field.

“It’s kinda growin’ on me.”

Steve got an amazing picture of Billy with about fourteen butterflies on him in the butterfly pavilion, And Steve got shit on by the parakeet they were trying to feed.

They hit the bird show on their way back to the entrance, would laugh and grab each other’s hands as large birds would swoop overhead.

They finally left the park after spending a minute at the gift shop, Billy surprising Steve with a soft stuffed rhino at the exact moment Steve presented him with a floppy stuffed tarantula. Billy couldn’t wait to put them on their bed.

Billy threw his arm around Steve’s shoulders as they walked to the car, the sun beginning to sink.

“That was a real good day.” Steve was slurping at the remains of an ice cream cone.

“For sure one for the books.” The tops of Billy’s shoulders on either side of his tank top were a little red from the sun.

“Thank you for bringing me. You know how much I love zoos. And getting to, getting to touch and feed a rhino, Billy that made my fucking life.” He kissed the side of Steve’s head.

“I’m glad, Sweet Thing.”

[feelingsofaithless]

[waywardnerd67]

Home

Title: Home Summary: After moving thousands of miles away, (Y/N) looks for a new beginning as fate steps in showing her what a true home looks like. Paring: Jensen Ackles x Reader Word Count: 831 Rating: E - Everyone Warnings: Fluff Square Filled: Austin Texas Bingo Card: @spndeanbingo A/N: As always this is unbeta so all mistakes are mine. Likes, comments and reblogs are splendid and I will love you doubly for them! Enjoy!

Check Out: SPN Dean Bingo Masterlist

Walking down the sidewalk from her hotel, (Y/N) looked across the beautiful skyline that was Austin, Texas. A mixture of modern glass towers with beautiful old architecture. The clear blue skies and warm sun rays were promises of a new beginning. A light casting out the darkness she was running from. (Y/N) continued down the riverfront standing at one of the lookouts. A statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan standing tall as she rested her arms on the railing.

Closing her eyes, she let out a sigh of relief allowing her body to relax for the first time in many years. The sounds of heavy footsteps approaching behind her made her body seize once again in fear. Standing as still as she could holding her breath to see if she had been noticed.

“Excuse me, are you okay?” a deep southern drawl came from beside her.

(Y/N) turned towards the voice to be met with piercing olive eyes filled with concern, “U-Um, yes… yes I’m fine. Just taking in this beautiful city.”

His smile made her heart skip, “That she is. Are you just visiting?”

“No, I just moved here from Washington to have a fresh start.” she had no idea why she was telling him everything, only that something deep within her knew she could trust this stranger.

“Jay, come on!” a man yelled from a few feet away.

“I’ll be right there!” He yelled back before returning his attention back to her, “Well if you are looking for a great tour guide I’ll be down at San Jac Saloon on 6th street tonight. I’ll buy the drinks and show you the best spots.”

She smiled bashfully looking down to her feet, “I-I would like that.”

He grinned holding out his hand towards her, “I’m Jensen.”

An electric current ran up her arm when her hand touched his, “Nice to meet you, I’m (Y/N).”

“See you later, (Y/N).” Jensen ran up towards his friend who looked to be giving him a hard time as they started running on the path again.

(Y/N) made her way back to her apartment deciding to unpack a few more of her boxes. The closer to sunset it was getting the more nervous she was becoming. Jensen seemed too good to be true and she would not put it past her family to send someone to haul her back to Washington. Once the sun had set, she made the decision to just stay home and forget about Jensen.

Over the next few months, (Y/N) settled into a new job as a cashier in a grocery store. Her store manager befriended her and welcomed her like she was family. She had heard nothing from her family in Washington and felt she was finally free from their grasp. She was finally allowing herself to make Austin her home except for one person that was always in her dreams. His bright smile and piercing eyes being a constant reminder of what she could have had. One day when she was working, those familiar olive eyes showed up in front of her.

“(Y/N)?” Jensen’s familiar Texan drawl had her body frozen, “How have you settled into our fair city?”

(Y/N) distracted herself by scanning his items, “I’ve settled in nicely, thank you.”

There was an awkward pause between them as she scanned the last item, “$42.57 is your total.”

He slid his credit card, “I’m glad to hear that. Hopefully, I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, me too. Have a great night, Jensen.” she smiled at him making the mistake of looking into his eyes.

A hint of sadness in his eyes as his smile did not reach the olive orbs looking down at her. He grabbed his bag with a small nod before walking out of the grocery store. The moment he was out of sight, she felt a heaviness on her heart.

“(Y/N), if you don’t go after that man then you’re a fool.” She looked over to her friend, “I will finish out your shift. I just want all the details in the morning.”

(Y/N) grinned, taking off her apron and grabbing her things from under the register. Rushing out the door, she found Jensen waiting next to a red Chevy truck.

Walking towards him, “This was a set up.”

“Possibly.” He closed the distance between them holding out his hand to her, “She may have overheard me talking on my phone to my friend, Jared, about you. She may have suggested for me to wait out here for you.”

(Y/N) smirk, “She’s a very good friend who knows I’m in need of a great tour guide.”

Jensen took her hand leading her to the passenger side of his truck and opening the door for her, “Lucky for you, I am an excellent tour guide.”

For the first time in many years, (Y/N) finally felt safe and that she found a home in Austin.

If you enjoyed this story then check out my Masterlist!

My Nerd Herd: @waywardbaby @ladywinchester1967 @akshi8278 @ericaprice2008 @deans-baby-momma @spnbaby-67 @dean-winchesters-bacon @carryonmywaywardcaptain @-lovepeacenhope- @destiel745 @carribear31 @srsllydunnodoncare @whimsicalrobots @thisismysecrethappyplace @starstruckzonkoperatorbat @adoptdontshoppets @mrswhozeewhatsis @bella-ca @drakelover78 @imascio08 @pisces-cutie @dwgrl1903 @mannls @the-salty-asian @winchesterprincessbride @xostephanie @superromijn @witch-of-letters @time-travel-bouqet @screechingartisancashbailiff @myinconnelly1 @sister-winchesters99 @thekatherinewinchester @maddiepants @tumbler-tidbits @sandlee44 @destielhoneybee @jerkbitchidjitassbutt @thefaithfulwriter @stoneyggirl @supernaturalginger @emoryhemsworth @wednesdayismyfunday @team-free-will-you-idjiot @atc74 @cosicas-cuquis​

[rossetteaaaaang]

THE COUNTRY THAT I ADMIRED

Have you been to South korea? If yes, I envy you. “South korea, East Asian nation on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula.” I always wanted to go in korea. You wanna know why?

I admire how South Koreans are so used to studying -- the country has the highest education level in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, with 98% of the population completing secondary education and 63% with a college education -- they can't get out of the habit once they reach the workforce.

As we all know, South korea is where our k-drama actors and actresses live. Of course from the word itself “k-drama or korean drama” silly me. K-drama or korean drama are television series or movies in the Korean language, made in South Korea. Korean dramas are popular worldwide, partially due to the spread of Korean popular culture, and their widespread availability via streaming services which often offer subtitles in multiple languages.

I know most of us millennials or even older or younger like or LOVE rather watching korean dramas. As for me, one of the reasons really, is that I would love to go to South Korea because of them. I'm an k-drama addict, you see. I mostly spend my time watching korean dramas and I cannot count anymore how many k-dramas I have already watched. I’m not expecting to finally meet them, but I still hope so. I want to go to many places, nice places that I have always seen in the series or movie. To feel like I was with them that time. I really always wanted to go to the country where they live.

Just like in the series, DOTS or descendants of the sun, D-day, School 2017, Sweet revenge 1, The odyssey, Weightlifting fairy, Strong woman, Legend of the blue sea, The heirs, Fight for my way and many more, my all time favorites. So let us see where this travelogue will bring us.

One of the places there in DOTS is Taekbaek Hanbo coal mine, the place where abandoned coal mines in Taebaek City, Gangwon Province, South Korea, were scenes of the soldiers’ military camp in fictional country Urk was filmed. It is where Captain Yoo Si Jin and Doctor Kang Mo-Yeon put the flag where the mines were, so that the people would know and be aware that it is dangerous to step.

Second place is Sorae Galmegi, one of the beloved Korean BBQ joints in Seoul, it is the perfect dining option for drama lovers who want to try out delicious local food. In the show, this is where the epic drinking session of the army occured. Song Hye Kyo joined 72 hours non stop drinking in Seoul too. This should come as no surprise, as drinking soju + eating mouthwatering pork cuts is one of favorite Korean pastimes.

Third, there are several scenes in the show that feature this cozy Korean coffee chain. Arguably the most memorable one is from the second episode in which Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo’s characters break up. We can find this branch of Dalkomm Coffee in the vicinity of Incheon Central Park, a lovely area in its own right.

Fourth, The European-style shopping mall lies in east Seoul, appearing in the show as a date spot for the two leads. As you glide through the lavishly decorated avenues, you can reenact the show and do a little shopping on the side.

Fifth is the modern architectural wonder located in Songo, Incheon. Its sleek, state-of-the-art appearance is one of the reasons why it appeared in a lot of drama. Tourists can climb up the tower to witness some of the most spectacular views of the Incheon Central Park and the surrounding area.

Sixth is Jaguen Maeul, Also known as Bok Chicken in Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, Jageun Maeul is home to the fried chicken restaurant run by Bok Joo’s father in the show. Unlike the show, the restaurant serves a variety of Korean food instead. If you’re looking for an adventure outside of Seoul, Jaguen Maeul is the perfect place to relive Bok Joo and Joon Hyung’s awkward romance that made us swoon.

Seventh is Descendants of the Sun – Wolmido Island Theme Park, Fans may be disheartened to know that they can’t visit Uruk, the fictional country in which their love bloomed, but fret not! Many other sites of the drama can be found in Korea, including Wolmi Theme Park! Found on Wolmido Island near Incheon, the theme park is featured in the show’s first episode There, Si Jin and Dae Young are spending their time off trying to win themselves “girlfriends”, the show’s famous stuff toys.

Eight is Legend of the Blue Sea – Aqua Planet Yeosu, If the scene where Joon Jae and Shim Cheong reunite made your heart melt, this Legend of the Blue Sea set is the perfect place to relive the show’s romance. Multiple scenes were filmed at the aquarium, but this reunion scene was filmed in front of the Ocean’s Life main aquarium. The aquarium features over 280 species over 4 floors, and is said to be the second largest aquarium in Seoul.

Ninth is Boys Over Flowers – N Seoul Tower, As one of the most iconic landmarks in Seoul, it’s no surprise that the cult favourite drama Boys Over Flowers was filmed at Namsan Tower! The tower is where Jun pyo and Jan Di were supposed to have their romantic date. Famous for its gorgeous views of Seoul, it’s a popular date spot for couples. Who knows, you might even meet your own Jun Pyo while enjoying the view.

Tenth is The Heirs – Bukchon Hanok Village, A tiny traditional village in the heart of a bustling city, Bukchon Hanok Village dates back all the way to the Joseon Dynasty. In The Heirs, Eun Sang meets Kim Tan outside a dreamcatcher shop found in the village, but did you know the actual store sells egg tarts? The village is a popular tourist place for those wanting to experience traditional Korean culture. A walking tour is also available for those teens to find out more. But they said that you need to be quiet while walking along the way there because you may disturb the residents living there.

Eleventh is Shilla Millenium Park, Boasting what might be the most star-studded cast, Hwarang: The Beginning told the story of Hwarang warriors during the Shilla period. Being a period drama, most of the show was filmed at traditional heritage sites. Shila Millenium Park serves as set for Hwarang’s training ground in the show. Shilla Millenium Park is also home to dramas such as Queen Seondeok as well as Boys Over Flowers. The park allows visitors a peek into the life during the Shilla period, complete with architecture unique to the era.

Twelve is Strong Woman Do Bong Soon – Seoul Land, No Korean drama is complete without an adorable theme park date that makes us wish we had an oppa too. If Bong Soon and Min Hyuk’s date in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon seemed like the perfect date, don’t forget to stop by Seoul Land with your significant other! I really wanted to go here. I can see how they enjoyed themselves while walking in the park and I want to experience it too!

Thirteenth is Goblin – Jumunjin Beach. If you have already seen that drama, you would feel the same too! It was a nice scenery and for sure it can relieve stress. Your Korean drama pilgrimage isn’t complete without stopping at one of Goblin’s filming sites. One of the most iconic scenes from the show is when Eun Tak first summons Kim Shin to the beach on her birthday. Since then, fans have been flocking to the breakwater to recreate that moment. Jumunjin Beach is home to more than 5 breakwaters, so make sure you find the right one! if you’re not sure which one it is, look out for the huge TV signboard.

Fourteenth is Wolmido Island, Incheon (Descendants of the Sun). Those scenes where Captain Yoo Si-jin and Sergeant Major Seo Dae-young were playing at a shooting range? Yep, that was here, at Wolmido Island. Travelers can enjoy the vast array of cafes and seafood restaurants along the coast – with great coffee and sea views too boot. There’s also Play Hill, another theme park that’s a must-visit.

Fifteenth is Samcheok Daemyung Resort Sol Beach, Donghae (My Secret Romance). This Santorini-themed location was used to film My Secret Romance, and it’s actually a resort outfitted with Spanish architecture. It features restaurants, Aqua World (an indoor water park), a sauna, and a fusion buffet – perfect for unwinding after a long day of traveling around.

Sixteenth is Petite france. When you look at Petite France, it becomes no surprise why this is a popular filming location for K-Dramas – it’s a French cultural village complete with French-inspired buildings, and has The Little Prince Theme Park too to boot. Make sure to check out the Orgel house, where a 200-year old music box plays on end.

These places are just a glimpse of how the Country South Korea is beautifully made. You can check out in google many other places because there are still a thousand places that you can go to and enjoy. You cannot blame me why I would really love to go to South Korea because you can see how the places are wonderfully made. I also want to taste their food there and make a mukbang video as what I have always seen on youtube where many of the koreans do video mukbangs of many delicious foods. Check out G-Ni’s videos. I'm sure that it can make your mouth watery. We can see a variety of foods and a variety of restaurants where there are so many unexplainable tastes of food she introduced.

As I have researched many articles saying that Koreans also give heart warming welcome to those especially are new to their country.

I will not let things stop me from going to South Korea, it is really the place I would love to go to and spend it with someone who was really special like friends or family. I will work hard so that I can reach my dreams and treat them without minding how much I already spend. Aja! (Fighting). Kamsahamnida (thank you) for reading chinggus (friends) . I hope it made you want to go to South Korea also. Annyeong~ (Bye)

https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/www.klook.com/blog/k-drama-locations/amp/

@queenlupitajones

[fyexo]

191010 SuperM Aim to Conquer America By Staying Korean

A monolithic coliseum, intimidating and gleaming in the sun, materializes in the desert like a mirage. Inside, seven men clad in black and metallics stand tall in its center, facing the thousands gathered to watch them.

The scene that opens South Korean supergroup SuperM’s debut music video, “Jopping,” is an apt metaphor for K-pop’s most buzzed-about new act — donning their armor, the gladiators prepare to take on one of the most intimidating contenders of them all: the U.S. market.

In August, Korean music juggernaut SM Entertainment, in partnership with Capitol Records and its subdivision Caroline, announced that it would debut a new K-pop supergroup featuring the cream of the crop, pulled from some of SM’s most popular active groups. These acts combined (SHINee, EXO, NCT 127, WayV) have sold more than 14 million adjusted albums and garnered nearly four billion views of their music videos. Though SM has experimented with a few supergroups in the past, this announcement was especially mind-blowing to K-pop fans, as it promised to take a cross-section of some of the very best dancers, singers, and rappers in the business — an Olympic-level performance team.

Taemin, 26, is the industry vet, who joined K-pop darling SHINee as its maknae (youngest member) in 2008. Along with a successful career in the group as its charismatic main dancer, he also has made a name for himself through his popular solo work, dramatic and often androgynous looks, and sultry vocals. From EXO — a group so revered they were chosen to perform at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Closing Ceremony — is SuperM’s leader Baekhyun, 27, known for his killer sense of humor and soaring tenor. Then there’s Kai, 25, the ballet-trained dancer whose secret weapon is a combination of long, sharp lines and arresting looks.

From subunits of the 21-person umbrella group, NCT, is NCT 127’s bright-faced Canadian rapper Mark, 20, and its 24-year-old charismatic leader and rapper Taeyong. And from the Chinese-language unit WayV is the quadrilingual Thai triple-threat Ten, 23, as well as 6-foot-something, 20-year-old striking Hong Kong-born rapper Lucas.

While the announcement garnered a monsoon of excitement online, it was also met with a hefty dose of skepticism and criticism. Some were upset that the activities of NCT 127, EXO, and WayV would be put on hold, and felt bad for the remaining members. But the most vocal faction seemed to float somewhere in the middle, unsure of what to make of the all-star lineup. One thing was sure: the sheer talent would be next-level. But SuperM was notably announced as group aiming to appeal to an international audience and debut in the U.S. — would that mean stripping it of its K-pop identity to make it palatable to the American mainstream?

That fear was all but quelled with one word: “Jopping.” The lead single off of SuperM’s self-titled seven-track EP is a bombastic, genre-bending dance track that blends English and Korean, and even samples the Avengers theme — apt for the self-proclaimed “Avengers of K-pop.”

K-pop can now can add “Jopping” — a blend of the words “jumping” and “popping” — to its lexicon, joining the ranks of “Boombayah,” “Dumb Litty,” and “kitty-incidence.” Not only is the title very K-pop, but the song is classic SM. In fact, it evokes a specific company-coined sonic style called SMP, or SM Music Performance, which is choreography synced with a mix of rock, R&B, and hip-hop beats.

“It's our debut single and first appearance as SuperM, so we knew that we had to do something that shows off all our best sides — whether it be our style or each of our personas and characters,” the affable Mark tells Refinery29 following SuperM’s debut Los Angeles showcase. “We knew that ‘Jopping’ had a large feeling to it and we knew that only something that big could contain our performances, our raps, our singing, and our dancing.”

It’s a bold move. Many K-pop acts looking to make it in the U.S. have opted to collaborate with big-name Stateside artists, or even release straightforward pop/hip-hop English-language songs that do everything to hide even a trace of a foreign accent. But SuperM deliberately chose to take a risk.

“Now that we’re entering the American market, we could have released a song that suits the American taste better, but that’s not what distinguishes us as a group,” says Kai, a silver Rolling Stones necklace adorning his graceful neck. “We chose ‘Jopping’ because we wanted to show something that hasn’t been done in the States. Also, given that we’ve pulled together all these great members for this kind of performance, we saw a potential in this song to captivate the world and show our identity.”

“It gives us an opportunity to show fans a variety of styles, and prove that we can pull off anything,” adds the purple-haired Taeyong.

Dig deeper into the EP, and the tracks reveal a roadmap that winds even deeper into the group’s Korean identity. Take “I Can’t Stand The Rain,” an immense electro-pop song that opens with echoing traditional Korean drums and whose chorus is cradled by a classic haegeum melody. The synthy R&B B-side “2 Fast” features a classic K-pop tempo change halfway through, slowing down during the bridge before picking up the beat and adding undulating trills of vocal distortion.

“We’re from Asia,” says cotton candy-haired Baekhyun, who's taken quickly to his leadership role. “We wanted to emphasize the harmony between Western and Asian music. That’s why the drums and haegeum are on that Westernized beat [in ‘I Can’t Stand The Rain’]. With ‘2 Fast’, the sudden change within the track is very K-pop because K-pop itself changes all the time. There’s no limitation and it takes on many different forms. This song is just another representation of that, and how we try to differentiate ourselves.”

“I’m honestly constantly learning from these six people how we can best represent SM’s history and show Americans what K-pop is,” says Lucas, who palpably relaxes when he speaks in Chinese, his native language. “I’m learning how, through this music industry, to be a vessel for spreading culture, thought, and happiness.”

And people are certainly noticing. After releasing their EP, SuperM delivered a blowout debut showcase in LA. Hundreds of roaring fans gathered to watch their first performance in Capitol Records’ backlot, which was streamed live around the world on YouTube. The group has since sat on Ellen’s couch, and announced a 10-date North American tour that includes New York City’s Madison Square Garden. It’s a promising beginning for the septet, and something that Mark didn’t think he’d ever see growing up.

“Growing up in Canada and being in the West, nobody really knew about K-pop unless they were Korean,” he says, his expressive eyes growing contemplative. “To see a Korean group like SuperM that’s so powerful, making an impact on America and sharing their energy and story, and to have Amercian fans come and run to us to see our synergy, is something I’d never thought that I’d see, nevertheless be a part of. I always try to remind myself how lucky I am to bridge two cultures together. It’s a cool moment.”

Though the EP is rumored to make a strong debut on the Billboard 200 next week, it seems unlikely that the average American will be "jopping" anytime soon. But it’s not about simply putting out songs that can dominate charts or airwaves right away — if that were the case, we'd be hearing a much more Western-sounding lead single.

It all comes back to an ethos instilled by SM’s founder and K-pop pioneer, Lee Soo Man. “I love what I heard from him yesterday,” says Ten with a quiet confidence. “Be humble, and learn from other people. Don’t put yourself above other people. Then, if you do that, you’ll rise higher without knowing.” It’s about promoting cross-cultural understanding, and hoping to change minds enough for the world to make room for what Korean culture has to offer. “K-pop itself is not just a music genre, but a whole cultural phenomenon,” says Taemin warmly. “It includes fashion, music, and so much more. When other people look at K-pop with a more traditional Western lens, or when people listen to it, it may sound like a combination of all different genres. Although it might sound unfamiliar at first, I think it's in the process of being blended into the mix of U.S. culture. Hopefully, SuperM can also make a contribution.”

source: Natalie Morin @ refinery29

[hcmj]

HCMJ’s Favorite Albums of 2019!

Listen to a mix featuring these albums here: HCMJ’s 2019 End Of Year Mix

Other Favorites:

David Bruce - The North Wind Was a Woman

galen tipton - fake meat

upusen - Highland Ave.

BLACKPINK - Kill This Love

Starkey - Earth EP

Lamp - ‘A Distant Shore’ Asia Tour 2018

AWITW - Ｓｈｅ Ｗａｌｋ Ａｌｏｎｅ う者姻

Seaketa - Gion ぎおん

SNJO - Diamond

BONNEVILLE - AFFORDABLE LUXURY

20) Gareth Davis & Scanner - Footfalls

I first found the experimental composition/clarinet music of Gareth Davis in the early 2010′s during my initial dive into the Miasmah catalog. Teamed up here with another electronic musician/clarinetist, Footfalls uses long, poetic waves of deep woodwinds and synth improv to describe hauntingly desolate environments. It only seems fitting to start the list with one of many bookends on a decade in the grim, cold grey of Philadelphia.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

19) Barker - Utility

Arp and delay-driven rhythmic expression that recalls late-era Kraftwerk, building a pristine sci-fi future with ear-pleasing, rich, and laser-sharp production. Like disembodied trance or house music searching for a strong beat that never comes, Utility is absolute, skillfully-stated synth pleasure.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

18) Sean McCann/Seth Graham w/Kymatic Ensemble  - Split Series Vol. IV

Seth Graham’s Gasp was a big favorite in 2018, here condensed and re-imagined for chamber ensemble. Sean McCann’s “Vilon” finds a blissful middle-ground between electronic ambient music and traditional western instrumentation, like a poignant hymn sung somewhere far away, while the new “Gasp” arrangements are full of expressiveness and surprises.

BANDCAMP

17) 猫 シ Corp. & t e l e p a t h - Building a Better World

Deep bass pulses and distant rain welcome us to a familiar comfortable place, but as the unmistakable sound and melodic freedom of telepath’s original synth work bends its way over rolling toms in the reverb-soaked hifi opener, it becomes clear that this album is something new and special. Full-on new age drenched in an endless downpour, it’s a huge and beautiful world that’s blissful to be lost in.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

16) Various Artists - Oneironaut

Another rare case of a compilation that is actually worth listening to, Japanese indie powerhouse Local Visions assembles the best talent from the sax-loving, jazz-infused, post-vaporwave electronic underworld of Japan and beyond in the indomitable Oneironaut comp. Notable contributions from Utsuro Spark, upusen, Tsudio Studio, tamao ninomiya, and countless others deliver a hazy daydream.

BANDCAMP

15) wai wai music resort - WWMR 1

Also from Local Visions comes this special collection of tracks caught somewhere between “lost LP found in a record crate” and “bedroom 4-track” - two distinct lofi flavors that mysteriously meld seamlessly on WWMR 1. It sounds new and old, youthful and mature, and full of affection for love and the music it references.

BANDCAMP | SPOTIFY

14) EXID - Me & You

There’s something about this mini-album, a Christmas time snowy nostalgia as the sun sets on another chapter of life (and era of kpop) in tracks like “나의밤” and “WE ARE..,” the Jamiroquai funk of “내일해 (Urban Mix),” or club igniting title track - EXID may never exist in this form or at this level again, and like so many of my favorites this year it reflects the recent history of its genre brilliantly.

APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

13) Fire-Toolz - Field Whispers (Into the Crystal Palace)

Field Whispers is the stunning next step in the evolution of Fire-Toolz that feels completely at home on the finely-curated Orange Milk. Extended sax-soaked dreams collide with splinters of music jumbled and broken, elegant and disjointed, all bouncing off each other while still leaving room for moments of soaring guitar and dreamy synth pads.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

12) Hakobune - The Last of Our Time Together

With over 50 releases (4 just this year!), Hakobune’s discography can seem like an impenetrable wall of ambience, but like classics Seamless and Here and Love Knows Where, The Last of Our Time Together stands out - monumental and multi-dimensional - a slow dance skidding along the frozen surface of an endlessly deep, rich sea of emotion.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

11) FM Skyline - Advanced Memory Suite

As nostalgic electronic music continues to evolve and find itself elevated in the hands of increasingly-focused musicians, FM Skyline delivers a joyful retrospective on a decade that gave new life to so many old sounds. Exploring the inner recesses of our memory and delusion, Advanced Memory Suite turns the page on a decade of chillwave/synthwave/vaporwave/whateverwave. It’s a hypnotic monument to the modern renaissance.  

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

10) emamouse - Black place on the edge

It was a huge year from the prolific Tokyo-based visual artist and musician emamouse, whose non-stop creative output continues to challenge the very nature of reality. Black place on the edge was a standout favorite this year, layered and mysterious - incidental music for the surreal dreamworld described in mou’s most unnerving illustrations. Like waking up and finding yourself trapped inside Quest 64.

BANDCAMP

09) Koeosaeme - Obanikeshi

My favorite Orange Milk release of the year, Koeosaeme delivers another absolute hurricane of hyper-detailed, sensory-extreme, buckshot-to-the-face arrangements. The sheer amount of data on this album is staggering, with more musical information packed into a few minutes of its blissful chaos than most full length albums combined.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

08) Jaeho Hwang - Non-self 비자아

I was super fortunate to play a show with Jaeho Hwang in Tokyo during this year’s Neo Gaia Phantasy tour - his immense set started so intensely it’s as if the entire room was cast under a shamanistic spell, hypnotized by percussive expressionism, drawn to the light of digitally melting faces and occult rituals playing out on the screen behind him. Non-self 비자아 is without mercy and full of powerful and primal energy.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

07) Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

Natalie Mering’s subtly expressive, velvety voice on its own is enough to make anything she touches turn to gold, but her songwriting is so masterfully dialed in on Titanic Rising it’s as if Harry Nilsson came back from the dead to write a new volume of pop rock ballads to get us through the next 50 years. It’s an album dripping with love for all the best parts of the 1970′s (Stardust-era Willie Nelson, early ELO, “Lost Weekend” Lennon and friends, etc), but also showcases the compositional chops to match and sometimes surpass its musical lineage (e.g. “Picture Me Better”).

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

06) Monari Wakita - RIGHT HERE

Off the heals of last year’s jaw-dropping Ahead!, ex-Especia Monari Wakita continues to defy modern conventions while asserting herself as one of the most powerful female voices in jpop. “エスパドリーユでつかまえて” sounds like Hitomitoi when she was a rising star, FRIEND IN NEED continues the new jack swing flirting, “やさしい嘘” sounds like it’s begging to be sampled by a future funk artist, and the lead-off single “Just a Crush for Today” is somewhere in a stop-and-go freefall between Billy Joel and Sonic R.

VIDEO 1 | VIDEO 2

05) Yeule - Serotonin II

Beneath the subtle power and diffusion of a voice like an extra-dimensional Julee Cruise, Serotonin II’s beautifully bleak paintings of the world it carefully constructs are reflective of Yeule’s transcendence into the artist’s next form. Crumbling brutalism under a blinding white sky, aliens in a graveyard - the romance of eternal torment in the spiral - all in dark room illuminated by a computer monitor sometime in the 00′s.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

04) The Caretaker - Everywhere at the End of Time - Stage 6

The final release for this multi-year project, capturing a mind being lost to dementia, also marks the end of Leyland Kirby’s multi-decade spanning Caretaker project - a project that has had an immense impact on my perception of the limitlessness of music. Now completed, Everywhere at the End of Time towers as a 50 track, 6.5 hour journey from dreamy lucidity to terrifying confusion and darkness.

BANDCAMP

03) Tsudio Studio - Soda Resort Journey

Tsudio Studio brings a contemporary frame to leisure fantasy. Instant classics “Kiss in KIX,” “Asian Coke Light,” and “Like a Ruin” expand on the electro-bossa pop of Port Island, while surprises like “Beijing Cat” expand and explore new worlds of sound. One perfect chord after another, from start to finish, Soda Resort Journey is bubbly and delicious to listen to. Play it looped, close your eyes, be where you’d rather be.

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

02) Minuano - Butterfly Dream

Lamp vocalist Kaori Sakakibara’s side project Minuano is like some mutant variant of Lamp - equally complex while slightly less disorienting arrangements (although there are a few re-worked Lamp classics on here), tighter pop sound, stunningly immaculate vocal production - all while maintaining the unique orchestral jazz pop that makes both bands such a euphoric joy to listen to. “Memory of Soda Pop” was my favorite track released by anyone this year.

BANDCAMP

01) EQUIP - CURSEBREAKER X

This was the year of EQUIP. No better story for this year, no better sound than CURSEBREAKER X - the songs from this album will always bring back a thousand memories of smoke-filled clubs, dark forests, and snow-capped mountains from across Japan - the building promise of absolute freedom and a happier tomorrow as we all lived the Neo Gaia Phantasy.. But even without my personal connection to the music, the hardware-driven “perfect sound” VGM and EQUIP’s signature cassette tape destruction has never been better balanced than it is here - it’s loud, and filled with unforgettable melodies and unknown lands. It’s monumental and iconic and will stand the test of time and it was my favorite album of 2019!

BANDCAMP | APPLE MUSIC | SPOTIFY

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Statement of Diane Devine submitted to the Fraser Committee

Statement Submitted by Diane Devine to the Ohio Legislator regarding involvement in the Moon Unification Church

dated May 18, 1977

I first became involved in the Unification Movement in May of 1973 in Louisville, Kentucky, where I was indoctrinated daily for a month long period to the Divine Principle teaching of the Korean organizer, Sun Myung Moon. When I was sent to Tarrytown, New York, to attend the international training center, I was persuaded to relinquish all of my possessions to the “Family,” as the commune was called, including the use of my car (a ’70 Olds Cutlas), furniture and all personal belongings. In Tarrytown I completed the rigorous 40 day and 120 day training programs in which I was deliberately subjected to the brainwashing methods which I have described openly to the Columbus media over the past year. My objective is to expose the criminal and damaging coercive practices which are being perpetrated on 30,000 American youth in the name of “religion.” To summarize very briefly, the mind control methods used by Moon and other cult leaders:

1. Complete alienation from family, friends, and former environment.

2. Sleep and nutritional deprivation resulting in physical and mental exhaustion (about 4-5 hours sleep nightly, low protein diet of food costing less than $1.00 daily).

3. Complete lack of privacy: never being allowed to think or read alone.

4. Constant peer pressure to reinforce the conviction that the doctrine of Principle is true.

5. Group coercion to conform to standards, behavior, and attitude of the Principled life.

6. Up to 12 hours daily either in indoctrination sessions or in street fund-raising, both activities supervised by a militaristic hierarchy of authority figures.

7. Constant conditioning to self-sacrifice, work harder to purify ones self of sin, and to prove ones allegiance to Moon, who was considered the Second Messiah at this time, literally bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth, and who must be obeyed without question.

8. Any objection, question or argument being met with intimidation, humiliation, rapid re-indoctrination, instilling ideas of self-worthlessness, fear of consequences of leaving the movement, and guilt for having been concerned over own feelings rather than unanimity with the totalist system, a general mistrust of all personal thoughts and emotions, forcing oneself to deny normal reactions or impulses to gain acceptance from other group members, particularly those in authority positions.

The result of undergoing these programming techniques is that the individual identity is obliterated and replaced by a mass-identity carrying an entirely new system of moral and social values, allowing itself to be be easily manipulated by others who speak the new language and set the standards of the new morality. Existing always in a hypnotic or highly suggestible state of mind, one participates compliantly in all activities expected of him, mainly selling token objects in the street to raise money, or rehearsing lectures to be presented to new recruits. The simple, immediate goals of the Unification Church are to increase its wealth and its membership. The ultimate goals are purely political and in no way religious. The teaching of Divine Principle itself is merely a control mechanism to remould the thinking of masses of people, rendering an army of thousands usable for whatever purposes Moon dictates. It is a completely fascist system with Moon as the only decision maker (thus the famous Moon quotation “I am your brain.’’) and the highest ranking officials in the American movement all being of foreign nationality, primarily German, Dutch, French, Italian, and Japanese. Moon claims that the 30,000 membership must be maintained and that the Divine Principle must be injected into every field of American life, meaning that influential people in the government, business, and educational areas must be cultivated and brought to accept the ideology of Unification.

The Divine Principle, or Unification teaching, can be understood as a providence of restoration, whereby man will be reunited with God when he overcomes his fallen, sinful nature, lives in peace and harmony with his brother, etc., etc. (the usual cliches). Moon promises to cleanse impure blood in a marriage ceremony, thus bringing a new race to establish the foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven, which will eventually be migrated from the U.S. to Korea. The holy mission of the Blessed Family is to sacrifice individual, family, society, and nation for the sake of uniting the entire world in love and brotherhood. His followers believe his teaching to be the only solution to communication with atheistic Communist ideologies, and that each Moonie must exist for the one goal of converting the Communist world to the Unification Movement, and with all of mankind as one to be reunited with God. Moon has promised to have the knowledge of how to organize a world government and pledges himself as Lord to be the Savior to erect the World Theocracy. He describes the system as a form of Socialistic Democracy, although there is no policy research center where, as a Moonie, one might study government or learn more about the New Order. Moon, as the Lord, is entrusted to make all decisions. In bringing recognition to Moon and his teaching, his followers are instructed very carefully on how to present themselves so as to gain approval. It is commonly accepted to employ what is laughingly called “heavenly deception” to manipulate someone to think favorably about the movement, particularly if the someone is influential. Outlandish lies are told to such people, smaller lies are habitually told to everyday-people in the street to secure donations. A general disrespect for the public is fostered, and an attitude of delight in one’s ability to exploit for Unification purposes is definitely encouraged.

During my one year involvement I participated in several major programs, semi-practicing heavenly deception with pangs of conscience. I helped host the British Project in which 120 students from England and Ireland attended training sessions at Tarrytown; I worked on the publications staff and designed propagandistic literature; I designed banners for the 21-City Day of Hope Tour and participated as a Public Relations Representative in trying to persuade police officers from each city to attend Moon’s banquet and Day of Hope speeches; I participated in the Fast and Prayer for Watergate in which I was assigned to speak with certain Congressional Representatives asking them to pray for President Nixon and lobbying their support for the Office of the Presidency, as it was phrased; I was assigned the position of State Representative for the state of Kentucky, which I refused to accept, openly confiding my feelings of desperation and conviction that the movement was un-democratic and un-Christian.

In closing I want to emphasize that this is a political movement, distracting the public’s attention by presenting itself as a church, and successfully delaying any judicial action.

One year ago a group of 300 parents met with a Congressional Committee seeking investigation, but to my knowledge the issue of religion and protection by the First Amendment still enable Moon’s empire to prosper $50 million annually, and while thousands of young people continue to suffer intense psychological damage. It may be appropriate to outline some future objectives in an effort to emphasize the grave importance of initiating investigations at this time. Every Sunday morning Moonies pledge to die for Moon, martyrizing themselves at the 38th parallel in Korea in case of invasion. By 1981 Moon intends to take his followers to Moscow to hear him speak publicly. The ultimate goal is to sway an election, lobby heavily and provide Congressional aides to each office, eventually replacing the United Nations with the Unification Church.

Since 1969 [when it was founded] the Moonist front organization, the Freedom Leadership Foundation, has been has been pro-Viet Nam, pro-Cambodia, and pro-South Korea. FLF publishes a journal called The Rising Tide advocating strong military defense of Asian countries. FLF representatives are assigned to each Congressional office, and regularly sponsor dinners and fireside meetings with about 10 conservative-minded Representatives from Congress. A list of these names could be secured on request. During the first years of its existence, FLF denied its affiliation with the Unification Church, although all activities and publications produced by FLF were directly funded by the UC through the contributions raised in the Washington area by the flower and candle selling teams. FLF members were all versed in Divine Principle and the Theory of Victory over Communism. On weekends or Congressional breaks, FLF members were writing articles for The Rising Tide, or selling flowers with the UC teams. All members of UC are used interchangeably in any of the 60 front organizations, as needed or assigned by Moon. Several FLF’ers were top lecturers. The more dynamic and articulate men were chosen to represent FLF, although they all had proven themselves as obedient and easily controlled during a testing-time as UC lecturers and flower sellers. The same Principled manner of maintaining militaristic order (ie Cain-Able relationships) was exercised within FLF. In 1973 Gary Jarmin was acting president. A list of Moonies participating in FLF activities could also be secured on request. (see Alan Wood report)

Moon dictated at Tarrytown and Barrytown that it was essential for each UC Leader to know inside-and-out the three books, Divine Principle, Victory Over Communism, and Unification Thought. (quote Moon “0ur goal is to have our mind united with our body, and with this as the bullet we shall smash the world.’’ He refers to having bodily actions automatically controlled by the theoretical contents of the ideologies) Those who could memorize and pass tests on this substantial amount of material could qualify for any position within UC and would be promised a position of leadership, even future presidency of a nation. Among the respected positions in the present church are any assignment as Public Relations Representatives (openly lobbying in Congressional offices and acknowledging affiliation with UC) or as State Representative(speaking with influential persons in state government). In Moon’s quotation,” Let’s say there are 500 sons and daughters like you in each state, then we can control the government,” he is referring to 500 members who qualify as Leaders. He intends to use these members to organize campaign teams, to work within various areas of the government and business.

During the 72 and 73 US 21 city speech tours Moon asked these Leaders to lure prominent people in each city to attend his banquet and lectures. Hundreds of city and state government officials attended each presentation. Follow-up teams of PR workers were assigned to meet and cultivate those who had responded favorably, the goal being to teach them Divine Principle, or at least impress them with our dedication to purpose and enthusiasm. Offer to help them in any campaign, regardless of which party they represented. Keep records of PR activities. The object here was understood as merely becoming practiced in campaigning. Moon stated that he would decide which US presidential candidate the UC would back when the time had arrived to “put him in office.” We were not to question the choice. Moon stated that thousands of UC Blessed Couples would be migrating from the US to Korea to live communally there when the UC takes the Korean government. He frequently made references for the need for some of the older members to die at that time. He said that he, himself, would die at the age of 80, but that this would be necessary to defend Korea in war and that in so doing the US would be forced to send aide. The Sunday morning pledge which states “I will march bravely forward into the enemy camp until I have judged them completely with the weapons with which God has been defeating Satan” refers to the need to shed the blood of martyrdom to build the Heavenly Kingdom. He taught that some will live to see the Kingdom, others will not. Once the Korean government was well-secured, the plan was to assign UC members to ambassadorships in each Korean embassy throughout the world.

Regarding the selection of candidates to be assigned as first ambassadors to the new Korean government, it was announced that a Japanese Leader named Kamiyama would be able to soon run for election in Japan, with the assistance of a man already holding an official position, by the name of Kuboki. With Kamiyama in office, the doors could easily be opened in Japan. It was announced that Paul Werner, a German leader, would be the first to take an official position in Germany. A younger fellow named Dan Fefferman, an American, is being groomed by Moon to take a position in Israel. No other names were announced, but many were rumored. There was competition among the state representatives for Moon’s attention. Moon expected that each state representative serve at least a three year mission in a foreign country, forcing the Americans to become bilingual. He made international assignments arbitrarily, whether or not a person could speak a language he was expected to be able to lecture the Divine Principle in the native tongue of the country to which he was sent. State representatives from the past three years were sent to 40 countries in 1974. I believe there are now missionaries in 120 countries. Moon promised to tour the world and visit each of these countries and speak to the membership using the missionaries as interpreters. This places each foreign-UC member in a position comparable to Bo Hi Pak, or as Moon’s right hand man, at the particular time of his visitation to that country.

It was assumed from Moon’s many references to the United Nations, that we should be expecting a self-destruction which would enable the UC to proclaim itself as the only unified international organization demonstrating a peaceful standard of living. He predicted that the destruction of the UN would be the thing which would greatly cause the public’s attention to be turned to the UC. He stated that there would be worldwide economic collapse and that the UC would be prepared to offer relief and assistance to thousands of people at the centers, which would be established as hostels, and that they would convert thousands at that time and use them to advance a campaign or election of the presidential candidate chosen by Moon. All UC women are expected to know how to prepare menus, cook for, and serve at least a hundred people. In some places in California self-subsistent farms are being set up. Leaders are being assigned to business enterprises which Moon has purchased in the US dealing with high nutritional foods, particularly fish. Moon stated that at such a time of mass-hysteria in the US, it may be necessary to know martial arts as a form of self defense. He also said many times “All of the Korean businesses and American businesses will be run by the leaders and the air rifles are being made now for you,” implying at the time of disaster the UC would be armed. He promised to purchase an airline so that we could travel internationally with safety. He referred to this as a “fleet of jets.” He said that New York would be the first city to experience the depression and this is the reason he has concentrated on buying property that is cultivatable in the upper state area. He predicted that people would leave the city in a sudden outpouring, and that UC would have food stored and shelter prepared to receive them.

Diane Devine

_____________________________________________

Minions and Master

United States Congressional investigation of Moon’s organization

Statement of Linda Anthenin to the Fraser Committee

Notarized Statement of Linda Anthenien to the Fraser Committee

Statement of Phillip Greek to the Fraser Committee

Sun Myung Moon and the United Nations

Sun Myung Moon’s theology used to control members

Sun Myung Moon: The Emperor of the Universe

Allen Tate Wood on Sun Myung Moon and the UC

“Moon’s Law: God Is Phasing Out Democracy”

[for-the-love-of-bangtan]

In Your Eyes

Summary: You’ve had a weird connection with Hoseok since the two of you were children. Living thousands of miles apart didn’t stop the two of you from being able to see what the other sees, hear what the other hears, and feel what the other feels. This bond between you two brought you closer together, but not close enough to touch. So when Hoseok asks to meet you in person, you begin to wonder what could happen if your proximity gets a little closer. 

Pairing: Hoseok x Gender Neutral Reader

Warnings: Mentions of depression, mentions of attempted suicide, mentions of death, mentions of abandonment, cursing

10.3 k

A/N: Italicized dialogue is Korean. This is my first fanfiction (but not my first story) so bare with me, please. I hope you enjoy!

“I’m scared,” You whispered to him, your voice hoarse. It was dark in your room, but when you blinked your eyes, you weren’t there anymore.

The room was bright and open, unfamiliar to you. The boy turned to you, an expression of shock on his young face. He was taller than you, and lanky, perhaps a year or two older. His eyes, narrow and frightened, focused on you. He opened his mouth to speak.

You shut your eyes, afraid that if he spoke he would be real. When you reopened your eyes, he was still there. He stood in your dark room, at the foot of your bed. This time, he appeared more startled.

“Where am I?” He cried, his tongue foreign to you. You were young and stupid, but you figured quickly he was speaking and Asian language.

“Who are you?” Your voice was meek. You drew the covers of your bed up to your chin, covering your frail body.

When you shut your eyes again, he disappeared. You were left alone in your empty room. You waited. You shut your eyes again. You reopened them. But you were still alone.

-

“I was seven,” You paused, phrasing the statement as though it was a question. You drew your knees up to your chest and wrapped your arms around them. “When I first saw him.”

“In a dream?” She queried.

“Sure,” You responded.

“So you’ve seen him again?”

“Mostly in my dreams.”

“Mostly?” She quirked an eyebrow, her expression quizzical.

“Shit, I mean,” You buried your face against your knees for a brief moment, trying to think of a logical answer that didn’t make you sound insane, which seemed pointless, considering you were sitting in your therapist’s office. Being a little bit insane was essential to be here. “I don’t know.”

She seemed to consider you for a moment. You could see a dozen questions brewing in her mind through the curious glint in her eyes. “Tell me about him.”

“Is she asking about me?” He said, his voice echoing in your mind. “I wonder what you’re going to say.”

You wondered too. But a part of you was afraid - afraid to disclose the intimate details, afraid of what she will think of you…

“Can I go home now?”

“We still have time, Y/N.”

You shifted in your seat. “I want to go home.”

“Are you okay, Y/N?”

You hated the way she always ended every sentence with your name, as though she were trying to goad answers out of you that would make you sound crazy. But you were crazy.

“You’re not crazy,” He said.

“Of course I’m not okay, I’m here, aren’t I?” She looked at me with an expression of concern that you did not care for. Sometimes you loved her, because she was an angel, but sometimes you hated her, because she also tended to be a patronizing cunt. “Can I go home now?”

“Please make another appointment, Y/N.” She said, following you with her gaze as you gathered your bag and rushed out of the room. You didn’t make another appointment.

It’s been fifteen years, and you’ve begun to understand some of what he says. You picked up after several years of pining to understand him that he spoke Korean. He was quite excited when you chose a Korean language course as your elective in high school, but he didn’t start to learn English until you were well into college. Of course, you didn’t mind. His unrelenting thoughts began to make sense to you now.

“You didn’t tell her about me?”

“Go away, Hoseok,” you mumbled under my breath. Sometimes you became restless and annoyed after therapy sessions - Hoseok knew this, but it didn’t stop him from asking if something was wrong. 

“Are you upset?”

You had continued learning Korean when you were in college, so at this point you pride yourself in your fluency. His English, well, it was improving, but you couldn’t deny it was cute when he spoke broken English.

“I’m sorry,” He said.

It was noon, as it was made evident by the sun glaring down on you, which meant it was three in the morning in Seoul. “Why are you awake?” You spoke as I took off down the street to the bus stop.

You stopped in your tracks, and found yourself standing in the center of what was clearly the Bangtan dance practice room. You let out an exasperated sigh, and turned to face him. Hoseok leaned against one of the mirror walls, his chest rising and falling in accordance to the panting breath he let out. “Hoseok,” You began. “What are you doing practicing at-” You paused to check the math in your head. “Three o'clock in the morning?”

Hoseok seemed shocked to see you standing five feet in front of him. You watched as his eyes scanned your body, and then as he stood. Suddenly the two of you weren’t in his dance studio anymore. You stood on the sidewalk, the bus stop looming over you. A line of people began to gather nearby. You turned to study them, briefly, and pressed your phone against your cheek to feign a phone call. You learned the hard way that speaking telepathically to someone across the world made you look kind of crazy. Boy were high school students dicks.

“You look nice today,” His voice almost a whisper.

You examined yourself - you had decided to spice things up today and wear a black and white patterned, button up shirt with your usual black jeans and funny socks.

“I thought I’d dress up for my therapist, let her know that even though I’m an emotional mess I can still dress myself,” You paused, scrutinizing Hoseok. “But that’s beside the point. You should get some sleep.”

“I know… It’s just - the comeback is just around the corner, and we just barely came back from tour, so everything is hectic- I just want this to be perfect.”

“Hobi,” You paused, your attention diverted when the bus came into view. “You’re perfect. Go sleep, asshole. I gotta catch the bus.”

A small smile found its way onto Hoseok’s face, and you returned it.

It’s been fifteen years since you first saw Hoseok, standing in his room, in your room. You never understood why the connection started when it did, but when it did, you began to see him, hear him… feel him. But he was thousands of miles away. He handled it a lot better than you had. He didn’t tell anyone when you first saw each other, or after. You were an idiot to tell your parents that there were voices in your head.

-

You and Hoseok worked out a system. It was adapted and refined over several years, and eventually you had settled into the life of a night owl, staying up well up to four in the morning to communicate with Hoseok, while he went about his day. So sometimes you’d get minimum four hours of sleep, but you made up for it by taking naps throughout the day. It may not have been the healthiest system, but you were more than willing to make sacrifices for your best friend. For years Hoseok complained, worried that the erratic sleep schedule you had built would be detrimental to your health, to which you would answer, “Hoseok, every kid my age lives off of five hours of sleep and copious amounts of caffeine. It’s cool. It’s hip. Get with the times, grandpa.” Eventually, Hoseok resigned to letting you go to bed at ungodly hours, but it didn’t stop him from voicing his concern every now and then.

“Y/N,” Hoseok was waiting in an airport terminal for his flight to America, where he and the rest of BTS were set to start their comeback-comeback tour, following the release of their new album. The other boys were scattered about the seating area, some on their phones, some trying to get in some sleep before the flight. “It’s two in the morning, get some sleep.”

“You’re not my dad,” You muttered under your breath, ducking your head. You were sitting at your desk, watching the latest k-drama Hoseok recommended to you, and eating chips. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

“Go. To. Sleep,” He reiterated in English, shaking his head in disbelief as you turned to look him in the eye, defiantly popping another chip into your mouth.

You took in your surroundings, examining the airport terminal. They were in a private waiting room - it was just Hoseok and the other boys. “You’re about to leave for America, aren’t you?”

The question had Hoseok buzzing. Since BTS had first taken on the U.S. when their popularity was taking off, it had never occured to either of you to suggest meeting in person. But this time, the question was on the tip of Hoseok’s tongue. He desperately wanted to see you - for real. But he swallowed the desire and decided instead to casually ignore the prospect, something the two of you had been doing for years.

“Yes! I’m excited.”

“Hobi,” You paused the show and swiveled around in your chair to face him, sitting on the edge of your bed. “This show is crazy. I can barely follow what’s happening. I got so confused as to how everyone is connected that I had to make a diagram-” You pulled out a sheet of paper where you had written all of the character’s names, connected by lines and descriptions of how they were related to each other. It was an intricate web that spanned across the entire paper, color coded and deeply detailed. Hoseok examined the paper, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“But it’s good right?” Hoseok said, leaning back.

“It’s goddamn amazing,” You added. “It’s your fault I’m not sleeping tonight. This show is too good.”

At the realization that you wanted to continue your show, Hoseok pouted, his eyes glistening and his bottom lip jutting out, “Aw, I wanted to talk to you.

God, I’m so whipped for this boy, you thought to yourself.

You briefly turned around to shut your laptop, “Okay, I have to take a break anyways. My eyeballs are about to melt from how much I’ve been watching.”

Hoseok smiled, “I’m happy you like it.”

You never really pressured Hoseok to speak English - you were more than happy to speak Korean with him. But since you had made the effort to learn Korean, he insisted on doubling his efforts on learning English, especially now that BTS was becoming increasingly popular worldwide. So, you attributed his desire to learn English to his love for his English-speaking ARMYs, and not because he wanted to make it up to you for learning a whole new language.

“Your English is getting better,” You said, reaching into the bag of chips again. “Hey, do you think you can eat these chips?”

“What?” Hoseok looked baffled, mostly with your train of thought, rather than the plausibility of eating chips that were located across the world. “I don’t think so.”

“Come on, try it,” You held the bag towards Hoseok. He looked at it warily at the way you expectantly shook to the bag of chips at him, waiting for him to make a move. Gingerly, Hoseok reached into the bag and grabbed a chip. He held the chip in front of his face, his eyes on you. A part of Hoseok wanted to throw the chip to the side and touch you instead, because this was stupid, right? Why were you so fixated on what would happen if Hoseok ate a chip that was thousands of miles away, when you could be wondering what would happen if the two of you touched?

You held your breath as Hoseok ate the chip, watching the way his Adam’s apple bobbed when you swallowed. You were so focused on watching him eat the chip that you entirely missed when he finished, your eyes locked on his mouth.

“Y/N,” Hoseok deadpanned.

“Holy shit,” You tugged on the roots of your hair, utterly flabbergasted. “He ate the chip. This is amazing. Earth-shattering.” You stood abruptly, your hands still tangled in your hair. Hoseok wished it were his hands in your hair.  “You just ate a chip from six thousand miles away. Holy cow! Do you know what this means? Because I don’t? I-” You froze, examining the way Hoseok looked at you. There was something in the way he looked at you with a gentle smile that sent a chill down your entire body. “Hobi, how are you not freaking out? You just- you ate the chip.”

Hoseok shrugged, seeming too calm for what just happened.

You slumped back into your chair, staring at Hoseok with disbelief. The fucking audacity of the guy to just act nonchalant after eating the chip and stare at you like you were the only person in the world.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Hoseok quickly averted his eyes, a blush creeping onto his face. Suddenly the two of you weren’t in your room anymore - you were in the airport seating area, and you noticed that the other boys were beginning to collect their carry-on bags.

Namjoon turned to Hoseok, looking tired. “Come on, Hobi,” He said. Namjoon eyed the chair that Hoseok had been speaking to, knowingly. “You can talk to Y/N when we land.”

You stuck your tongue out at Namjoon, making Hoseok erupt in laughter. Namjoon eyed him warily, and walked out of the room with his bag slung over his shoulder.

“You should go,” You said, nevertheless.

“Stay with me on the plane,” Hoseok said, pouting his lips.

“Yah, I thought you wanted me to sleep,” You said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Hoseok’s eyes widened with realization. He had completely forgotten it was nearing three in the morning for you. Time always became obsolete when the two of you were together, which is why it was so easy for you to stay up so late to talk to Hoseok.

“Plus,” You added. “I’ve never been on a plane.”

“You told me you came on a plane when you moved here,” Hoseok countered.

“That doesn’t count - I was a baby, Hobi,” You recalled your parents moving from (insert your hometown/country) when you were little. Your dad left shortly after you first met Hoseok; you remember Hoseok being there when you realized your father wasn’t going to come back.

Suddenly, you found yourself sitting in a luxury seat next to Hoseok, on an airplane. Panic began to jet through your veins, and Hoseok was quick to notice. “Go to sleep,” He beckoned. How he deeply desired to take your hand in his, give it a reassuring squeeze.

“Right,” You muttered under your breath. “Yeah, thanks Hobi.”

“For what?”

It occurred to you that Hoseok didn’t know you were thinking about your dad, about how Hoseok never left your side when your dad did. You felt embarrassed, thinking about it, but a part of you wanted Hoseok to know how much he meant to you, so you turned and looked deep in his eyes. “For talking to me, I guess.” God you were awful at explaining your emotions. You began to pity your therapist for having to handle your emotionally inept ass.

Hoseok smiled nonetheless, “Your my best friend, Y/N.”

Suddenly, Yoongi, who had been walking down the aisle to take his seat, froze, his head whipping to face Hoseok. “I’m not your best friend?”

-

It was a warm evening, so you lay in bed in one of your dad’s old t-shirts and a pair of boxer shorts. Your skin felt thick with heat, and the fan in the corner of the room did little to relieve you. You began to sweat, and your chest rose and fell exasperatedly. Desperately, you rubbed at the Korean sheet mask on your face, collecting the cool liquid on your fingers and depositing it across your neck. 

You turned over onto my side and scanned the room before you. You were in a hotel room. You knew that Bangtan was touring in America. You knew because you were excited to see them live, finally. “What are you doing, Hobi?”

Hoseok gasped, but there was a sense of tiredness to it. You figured he had been practicing again, but that wasn’t the case. You stood up, removing the sheet mask from your face and tossing it aside, just in time to see Hoseok scrambling on his bed.

“Y/N!” Hoseok screeched, his face glowing vibrant red. His t-shirt had ridden up his chest, exposing his well defined stomach, and he was now making an effort to hide himself. His sweatpants were hurriedly pulled up his legs, and were loosely hugging his hips. You quirked an eyebrow at the sight of his hardness through the sheer fabric of his sweatpants.

“Were you masturbating?”

Hoseok drew his knees up to his chest upon noticing you staring, and you tore my gaze away from the sight, a shit-eating grin on your face.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” You said, your voice husky and laced with amusement. “Is this your hotel room? Nice.”

You turned around to scan the room, when he called you. “Wait, Y/N, I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” You asked, turning back to face him.

“Because,” He paused, bowing his head in shame. “I was thinking of you. That’s why you showed up, isn’t it?”

You froze in your tracks. “Oh,” You whispered, your voice cracking.

Hoseok suddenly moved from his bed, and stood before you. His face looked panicked, and you could see tears forming in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Y/N. I just- I was thinking, and then all of a sudden I was thinking of you, because I always think of you- but- not like that I mean! I mean I always-”

“Hobi…”

“I’m sorry, I’m making you uncomfortable-” Hoseok collapsed on his bed and buried his face in his hands.

You stood before him, frozen, admiring his form. He dug the meat of his palms into his eyes, and you worried that he might cry. “I’m disgusting, you must think I’m disgusting.” He mumbled to himself.

You had never touched him. You was always too scared to, and you thought he was too. The two of you never knew what would happen if you touched; a dozen ideas of what might happen always raced through your heads. But in that moment, as you looked at him, flushed from touching himself, you wanted to touch him.

Hoseok looked up, and you knew by the look of shock in his teary eyes that he half expected you to be gone. “What are you doing?” He croaked, watching as you approached him.

“You think about me?” Your eyes shifted, scanning his face for some form of answer. Hoseok opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t seem to form any coherent phrase as he watched you with wonder, and a little bit of panic, in his eyes.

It was quick, the moment you touched him. You lifted your hand and placed it on his shoulder, and he felt… real, but you knew he almost wasn’t. There was an airy feeling to his flesh, as though he were only halfway there. So you squeezed his shoulder, and watched as his breath hitched and something flashed across his eyes.

“Y/N…” He whispered.

Gently, you pushed him onto his back and, in one quick motion, straddled his hips.

“Do you think of me like this?”

“Yes…” He moaned, gripping my hips. “God, yes.”

You leaned down, hovering over him, your faces centimeters apart. You knew that if you did this, the touch would be real, your connection would be real. You moved closer to him, holding your breath. Your lips ghosted over his, and you could hear him suck in a breath.

“Y/N…” Hoseok tightened his grip on your hips, and slowly slid his hands up your sides, and across your back.

For a moment, everything was still, the two of you unmoving in anticipation, until...

“J-Hope!” Jimin flung the door open, stepping inside with a wide stride. His eyes shifted over the room, until they landed on Hoseok, lying on his back against the bed. “It’s time to...go. What are you doing?”

Hoseok shot up, staring at Jimin with a wild look in his eyes. “Jimin!”

“Look, bro, we gotta go. We’re going out for dinner, remember?”

“Right, yeah,” Hoseok nervously patted himself down, feeling warm where you were once sitting.

“I’m sorry for interrupting, your, uh...” Jimin said, leaning against the door frame, a knowing look on his face. Jimin’s gaze shifted to Hoseok’s lap, where he was still visibly excited against his sweatpants. Hoseok followed Jimin’s gaze, and promptly threw a pillow at his bandmate.

-

“Did you wash your hands?” Jimin quipped, a shit eating grin on his face.

“Yah, Jimin-ah!” Hoseok griped, swatting at his dongsaeng’s arm.

“What’s going on?” Jin chimed in, leaning over the table to examine Hoseok and Jimin with piqued curiosity. “Why are you fighting?”

Hoseok opened his mouth to speak a quick excuse, but Jimin beat him to it. “Hobi-hyung is embarrassed because I caught him masturbating.”

Jimin wiggled his eyebrows at his friends, the shit eating grin never abandoning his face. Hoseok shrunk in his seat, burying his face into his hands.

“Yah, Jiminah, we’re eating! I don’t need the mental image of Hobi masturbating when we’re about to eat,” Yoongi groaned.

In all honesty, it was nothing the boys hadn’t joked about before, but the embarrassment was tenfold knowing that Hoseok was about to kiss you when Jimin rudely interrupted, even if the other boys didn’t know that was what was bothering him.

“Why are you embarrassed, Hobi? It’s not like we don’t do it too,” Taehyung, who sat to Hoseok’s right, mentioned, placing a comforting hand on Hoseok’s thigh.

“It’s not that,” Hoseok muttered. “I was with Y/N.”

The room stilled. Everyone bore an expression of shock, and a bit of confusion. Jimin, the most curious (having seen Hoseok in his flustered state), spoke first, “Wait,” He paused for emphasis. “You were with Y/N? In the hotel room?”

Hoseok dropped his hands from his face and found six pairs of eyes drilling holes in him. “Yes?”

Jin was the first to laugh, his windshield wiper guffaw erupting the silence of the room. The others joined in on a chuckle, and Jimin leaned over to Hoseok and spoke above the laughter, “I’m so sorry, bro. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Hoseok let out a noise of protest and promptly began banging his head against the table. He felt one of his bandmate’s cool hands against his neck, probably Taehyung’s, and stopped the assault on his forehead. Hoseok pressed his cheek flat against the table, facing his friends, “We were about to kiss...”

“The way I saw it, it looked like you guys were going to do more than kiss,” Jimin announced. The table erupted into a chorus of ‘ooo’s and ‘aaa’s.

“You saw nothing!” Hoseok snapped, rising from the table.

“I didn’t know you guys could, like,” Namjoon motioned with his hands. The others mimicked him, motioning vulgar things. “Touch.”

“I didn’t know either,” Hoseok admitted. “We never tried before.”

“But you wanted to, right?” Taehyung queried. “Touch ‘em, I mean.”

“Of course!” The boys giggled at Hoseok’s response. “They’re just so-” He let out a distressed noise, burying his face in his hands again. “But after the first time I was too scared to try again. I didn’t think they wanted it too.”

“Wait,” Jin pauses, and everyone turns to face him. “The first time? I thought today was the first time.”

Hoseok’s face reddens with embarrassment and a little bit of shame. “I may have touched them before… They were drunk, so they don’t remember.”

“Hoseok!” Taehyung shrieks, slapping Hoseok’s arm. The others begin to shout out their disapproval, and it dawns upon Hoseok what he was insinuating.

“No! I didn’t take advantage of them! I swear! They were drunk and having a panic attack, so I just hugged them!” Hoseok shouted above everyone else’s complaints.

The table quieted down, and they all took what Hoseok said into consideration.

“And they don’t remember?” Jimin said. “That sucks, hyung.”

Hoseok pouted, remembering the night. He had awoken to the sensation of his heart pounding, and found you curled up on the floor crying. It wasn’t the first time you had a panic attack, nor was it the first time he witnessed it. But it was the first time Hoseok did something about it. He picked you up in his arms, and let you cry into his chest. It was terrifying, the electrifying sensation of actually touching you, even though you were thousands of miles away.

“Where are they right now?” Jungkook asked from across the table.

Hoseok looked at the maknae, as did everyone else. “I don’t know,” He answered honestly. “Home, probably. It’s late.”

“What do they look like?” Jungkook asked.

“Yah! Why do you have so many questions?”

“I’m just curious,” Jungkook pouted, slumping in his seat. “We all are, honestly. Your friend says he’s communicating telepathically with a person across the world and you get curious. ”

The others nodded in agreement.

“You’ve known them longer than you’ve known us, and we don’t know much about them. Sure, you talk about how they have the cutest laugh but-” Jin commented, and was abruptly cut off by Yoongi.

“We want to know the important stuff,” Yoongi finished, much to Jin’s displeasure. 

“Well, they live here. In the States, I mean,” Hoseok began. “They’re twenty-two. And they… they’re beautiful.”

The boys’ faces lit up upon seeing the bright smile on Hoseok’s face. “You really like them, Hobi,” Namjoon prompted.

Hoseok didn’t hesitate to say, “I really do.”

It was silent for a while, everyone smiling at Hoseok, and Hoseok smiling, thinking about you.

“So when are you gonna meet her? You know, kiss her for real?” Yoongi said, bluntly.

-

It was late, and sleep had eluded you for hours. You wondered what Hoseok was doing, if he was thinking about you, about what you had almost done. You had wanted to feel him again, so you laid in bed and connected your phone to your Bluetooth speaker, listening to the gentle, heavy beats of Hoseok’s playlist. The two of you always shared music with each other, it was another connection that the two of you shared.

“Hi,” Hoseok stood in your room. You shot up in your bed to look at him. He was dressed in a black coat over a plain white t-shirt and jeans. He looked so handsome, his hair falling over his eyes in a boyish way.

“Hi,” You whispered, your hands restlessly brushing your hair, then finding their way to rest on your lap.

“You’re still awake?” Hoseok eyed the clock mounted on the wall - it was well past midnight.

“So are you,” You responded. His smile was small, and you saw it briefly before he ducked his head to hide the blush on his cheeks. Hoseok began to play with the hem of his shirt for some time, until you stepped forward, garnering his attention.

“Hi,” you repeated. He looked you in the eyes and smiled wide.

“Are you listening to my playlist?” Hoseok quirked, realization dawning upon him as he took in the surroundings of your room. It was a small room, a part of a studio apartment that you had moved into during your first year of college. Hoseok always said he was proud of you for becoming independent so young, moving out of your grandparents home as soon as you started college.

You said nothing as he moved towards where the music was coming from, and promptly began to dance. You sat back down on the edge of your bed, watching him. A laugh escaped you, and it made Hoseok smile like the sun. Hoseok continued to dance, moving across the room until he stopped in front of you. He seemed to hesitate, his fingers hanging in the air between you.

“Hobi…”

“I want to see you,” He whispered. “I want to see you for real.”

Your eyes grew wide with shock. “Shit, Hobi,” You said.

Hoseok stepped back, a crestfallen expression replacing his once happy face. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

“No, Hobi, I want to see you, too!” You said, standing from your bed and taking his hands in yours. Hoseok looked at where you connected, absolutely loving the feeling of touching you, even though it didn’t feel all too real.

“Okay,” He said, squeezing your hand. “Okay.”

“I actually,” You paused, ducking your head. Hoseok moved his hand from your grasp and lifted your chin so that you were looking him in the eye. Hoseok smiled, and urged you to go on. “I bought tickets… to go see you in LA. I wanted to surprise you.”

Hoseok’s jaw dropped, then his initial expression of shock was replaced with a blinding smile. “Oh, jagi,” He said, pulling you into an embrace.

It was overwhelming, feeling Hoseok’s entire body pressed up against yours. Like your body was tickling all over, in a wonderful way. He wrapped his arms around your waist, burying his head into your hair. It had never occurred to you before how much taller he was.

But as quickly as he hugged you, Hoseok pulled away, a bashful smile on his lips. “Sorry,” He said.

“No, don’t be sorry,” You reached out and gently cupped his face. His eyes shined with adoration.

“I want to kiss you, but,” Hoseok paused. “I want to kiss you for real.”

“Okay.”

-

“Okay, Pam, here’s the deal,” You said, sliding into your therapist’s office with a Capri-Sun in one hand and a Slim Jim in the other. “Jim?” You jerked the treat towards the woman who sat across from you. She shook her head. “No, okay. Suit yourself- Anyways. I’m freaking the fuck out. And the last thing I need is for you to throw me in a mental hospital because I’ve got tickets to go see the love of my life this Friday, and there is no way in hell you’re going to ruin that for me.”

“Why would I throw you in a mental hospital, Y/N?”

“Because,” You began. “Because, what I’m about to tell you is going to make me batshit crazy.”

Pam uncrosses her legs in anticipation.

“Okay, so it all started when I was seven years old-” Pam’s expression lit up, and you could tell she was excited you were finally opening up to her about the mysterious boy you were seeing. “I woke up in the middle of the night because I heard music, and it was weird music - like, Korean, right. And I wake up, and there’s this boy in my bedroom, and I don’t know who he is. And he doesn’t know who I am, and we’re both confused, because all of a sudden I’m not in my room anymore. I’m in his room.”

“Was this, perhaps, a nightmare, Y/N?”

“What-no, this was real. I mean, after that, I started to dream about him, and I still dream about him, but I could tell when I saw him in my sleep and when I saw him when I was awake.”

“You saw this boy when you were awake?”

“Yes, I know, I know, you’re probably starting to think I’m some schizo, but I swear I’m not. I’m getting into the juicy part,” You pause to drink from your Capri-Sun. Pam looks at you with piqued curiosity. “I didn’t see him for several years after that. Then one day, in the sixth grade, I was in the locker room and he just… showed up. You can imagine what kind of reaction I had to seeing this boy from my nightmares in the locker room. I screamed… a lot. The other student’s thought I was going crazy. I scared the crap out of the poor guy. And then they sent me to the principal’s office because I had a mental breakdown and ‘was seeing things’ and they called my mom and the school therapist.”

“Did he speak to you?”

“Yeah, he was saying all sorts of things in Korean,” You slumped in your chair and eyed Pam. She was looking at you strange. “Anyways, school sucked after that, as I’ve told you before. The student’s spread rumors about how I was crazy, I didn’t have any friends, kids bullied me - the whole enchilada. The next time I saw him was when he was in school, and at that point we realized that this shit was real. So, I told my mom, which was a huge mistake. I love my mom, or, loved, whatever. She was trying to help me, but it was really fucking scary going to all of these psychiatrists and psychologists and therapists when you’re going through puberty and have, like, zero friends. And they’re all talking to me like I’m crazy, which I’m not! I was just a scared little kid.”

You paused, tucking your Slim-Jim into the pocket of your jean jacket, and slurping the last of the Capri-Sun. “I was fourteen when I first stayed at a mental hospital.”

“I remember,” Pam spoke, her voice soft. “And the boy?”

“Oh, right, him,” You sat up, leaning your elbows against your knees, and cupping your face in your palm. “We started talking after I saw him for, what, the third time? Even though we didn’t understand each other, we would talk to each other, about… stuff. He was nice. He grew up in Gwangju, in Korea. He loves to dance; he was in a dance crew when he was a kid. He was my only friend. I know that sounds pathetic, but he was. After everyone thought I was some crazy schizophrenic, I kind of became that person. Like, I became crazy, just because everyone told me I was. But he wasn’t scared of me.”

“Do you still speak to him?”

You nodded. “But he stopped speaking to me when I went into the mental hospital. He told me he was afraid that if the doctors continued to see me speaking to him they would only keep me there, so,” You paused, remembering the lonely nights in the hospital. You had lost your only friend, and you had begun to think that he also believed you were crazy. “He was two years older than me, and he had just auditioned to be an idol trainee, so he didn’t talk to me after I got out either, because he was so busy.”

“An idol trainee?”

“Yeah, he was always practicing dance and stuff. Sometimes I would see him, but he wouldn’t notice me.”

“When did he speak to you again?”

“I was fifteen, he was seventeen,” You began to explain. “This was just after my mom died, and I was living with my grandparents at their apartment. They had a pool, and I would go swimming alone a lot. It was the only time when they weren’t watching over me. I loved them, they were nice to me, but it felt the same as it was with my mom. I let them watch me, I let them think I was crazy, I took the pills they gave me.

“Anyways, so I was swimming, and then he showed up. At this point, I had started high school and was learning Korean, because, why not. I’d watch a lot of k-dramas and everyone thought I was a Koreabu. I still didn’t have a lot of friends, I still didn’t have him either.” You paused, remembering the day, the way you felt embarrassed in your swimsuit, in front of a seventeen year old boy. “He looked sad. I could tell he was pitying me. He told me he was sorry that my mom died. He told me he was there at the funeral, but I was to gone to notice.”

“I’m curious, Y/N,” Pam said. “Why did this start when you were seven years old?”

“Hold on, I’ll get to the theories when the story is over. I’m about to get into the really sexy stuff,” You continued. “Anyways, he told me that he experienced my grief, that his friends were really worried because he was always sad. It felt kind of cool to know someone else was experiencing what I was experiencing. I mean, I felt bad that he had to go through that because-”

“Because you tried to kill yourself?”

You winced when Pam mentioned it, but you supposed that you had set yourself up for that. “I had never seen him so scared…” You whispered, mostly to yourself.

You were sixteen and you had spent the past year trying to gather the willpower to cry over your mom’s death. Hoseok said it broke his heart to see you so… ambivalent about it. The therapy didn’t help, and a part of you wondered if your grandparents hated you because you didn’t grieve over the death of your mother. After that incident you stayed in the hospital for months, all the while Hoseok never left your side. But you didn’t speak to him, not until you were out, at least.

“Sometimes I wonder why he tolerates me.”

Pam didn’t say anything.

“Things were sort of normal after that. High school was a nightmare, but I made friends with some of the people I met in the hospital. Most of them died, so it was just me and him. My grandparents never worried too much about me because I’d pretend to be on the phone with my ‘friend from Korea’.” You laughed at that, and Pam smiled. “It had never occurred to us to see if we were really there, so one day I asked if I could Skype him. I was seventeen.”

Pam’s eyebrows shot up at that.

“And we did, and it was nice. We would email each other and stuff. He would send me pictures of his dog, Mickey. Fast forward a couple years later, he asked to see me in person, and I’m freaking the fuck out, Pam. I’m freaking out!”

Pam didn’t know what to say. She was stumped. Flabbergasted. This had been one roller coaster ride of a therapy session. A part of her genuinely wanted to believe you weren’t crazy, but the therapist inside of her was screaming at her that these were clear symptoms of a schizophrenic. “You mentioned you have tickets to-”

“Go see the love of my life, yes.”

“Is this that boy?”

“That man, Pam, and a delicious one too.”

Pam laughed awkwardly.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to go see him?”

“You think I’m crazy,” You said. “You think this is all a figment of my imagination and I’m going to go see him and kidnap him and make a suit out of his skin? I can show you the pictures he sent me of his dog. They’re real.”

Pam said nothing, only shifting awkwardly in her seat.

“I’m not joking, Pam,” You said, pulling your phone out. “I have the receipts.”

Pam leaned forward when you brought up the text messages you shared with Hoseok. It was faulty evidence, it could have been just messages with another friend you were planning on meeting and teaming up with to skin this poor boy into a suit, but Pam decided to give you the benefit of the doubt, even if it meant risking her job.

“He’s an idol,” She stated, almost a little excited.

“Yeah, and you can’t tell anybody. You know, doctor-patient confidentiality.”

“I think maybe we should talk about your relationship with your father. It seems that this… connection with this boy started around the time your father left.”

You sat there, staring at Pam for what seemed like hours. “Yeah, I think that was enough for today.”

-

Hoseok was pacing. He was nervous, to say the least. His heart was pounding and his palms were sweating. You were going to see him, live, in concert. He didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to either of you before to do this. You had known each other for fifteen years, for fuck’s sake, and neither of you brought up meeting each other in person. Leave it to Yoongi to be the first one to suggest the idea. Of course, you admitted that you had wanted to go to one of his concerts before, but you could never afford a ticket, and so you never brought it up. But now, things had changed, you had started saving up since BTS’s popularity in America skyrocketed. Hoseok couldn’t be more nervous.

“Hoseok, calm down, bro,” Namjoon said from across the room, where he had been watching Hoseok pace back and forth for the past ten minutes.

“Yeah, the concert starts in half an hour. You don’t want to mess up because you’re nervous, do you?” Taehyung mentions. Namjoon shoots Taehyung a ‘shut up’ look, and Taehyung cowers in his seat. “Sorry,” He mumbles.

Hoseok hadn’t even thought about the concert, or the potential of messing up because his mind was on you, on where you were sitting, on how you were watching him, and how you had promised to meet him after the concert.

Hoseok had stopped pacing, his eyes locked on a spot on the floor. The others watched him with concern painted on all of their faces.

“Have you spoken with them since that night?” Jimin asked.

Of course the two of you had spoken. Not a day went by where you didn’t. Whether you woke up in the middle of the night because Hoseok was practicing or in the middle of an award show, or he woke up because you were singing along to a song playing in the supermarket. They always saw each other every day, even if sometimes it was just in passing because Hoseok was busy being an idol. And when they didn’t see each other, they were no doubt messaging each other.

“Yeah,” Hoseok paused to sit down, then promptly stood back up and continued pacing. The last you had spoken was last night, and since then you had sent him selfies of you getting ready for the concert, taking the bus to the concert, waiting in line for the concert. Hoseok wondered if you were nervous, too.

As if he read Hoseok’s thoughts, Jimin said, “Don’t worry, Hobi, I’m sure they’re nervous to see you too. They like you. It’s pretty obvious considering you guys were going to do it the other night-”

“It was just a kiss!”

Jimin held up his arms in mock defeat.

“What’s got you so worried, Hobi? Tell us,” Namjoon inquired.

Hoseok thought to himself, what has got him so worried? To be quite honest, he was absolutely terrified to see you. Before the two of you had nearly kissed, things were clear between the you - you were friends, best friends even. There were no lingering questions of ‘Do they like me back?’ ‘Are they only attracted to me?’ ‘Should I ask them out?’ Hoseok collapsed in his seat and stayed there.

“I think I’m going to have a panic attack,” He muttered, much to the alarm of everyone else.

“Are you okay?” You said, standing in the corner.

“Yah!” Hoseok cried, spazzing out in his place.

The boys all jumped up in shock, Taehyung muttering under his breath, “He really has gone crazy.”

“What are you doing here?” Hoseok implores, turning to face you. The boys had seen Hoseok communicate with you before, years ago when it they were just beginning to discover about the connection. But what was once watching with worry at their potentially crazy Hobi was now watching with wonder at the astonishing bond between you two. The boys were always excited to see you and Hoseok talk, cooing over the way Hoseok always got flustered when he spoke with you. It was evident to anyone in the room that Hoseok liked you.

“I was kind of freaking out, and I hoped you were too, because I’m really nervous-” You said, playing with the hem of your shirt. Hoseok admired the way you looked today - you were dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with the word ANPANMAN written across the front. On your head was a headband decorated by two Mang plushies. You looked so goddamn cute Hoseok was blushing.

“I was nervous too,” Hoseok admitted.

“Nervous? He was about to shit himself,” Yoongi added, much to Hoseok’s dismay.

Hoseok glared at his friends, who were all laughing at him. He quickly ducked into the hallway, and, upon finding a bathroom, hid inside.

“Oh, are you going to finish what you started the other night, Hobi?”

“Yah! Y/N!” He complained, leaning against the sink. “I just wanted some privacy…”

“I know,” You said, your voice calm now that you were with Hoseok. “I was just joking.”

“Where are you?” Hoseok asked.

The scene shifted from the bathroom to the audience, where thousands of ARMYs were gathering to watch BTS perform in just a matter of minutes. Hoseok was startled, at first, but he found peace in the sound of your giggle. “You’re really here,” Hoseok whispered, caught in awe of the fans.

“Of course I am,” You answered. “I’m excited to see you.” You added with a shy smile.

Hoseok faced you, and in the crowd of fans, he only saw your face. He noticed you were holding your phone up to your ear, a habit you picked up to avoid the punishing stares of strangers. You saw Hoseok hesitating, so you continued. “You’re going to do great, Hobi. You always do. Fighting!”

Hoseok’s smile rivaled the sun, that you were absolutely positive about. “Did I ever tell you, you have the most beautiful smile?”

“Y/N,” Hoseok said, his voice barely above a whisper. He reached out and gently cupped your face with his hand, a smile on his own. “I love you.”

“What-”

There was a knock on the door.

“Hobi!” Namjoon called, and Hoseok was gone. “It’s time to go.”

You found yourself sitting alone, among the thousands of ARMYs. Hoseok had disappeared. The hand that was holding your phone fell to your lap. You stared at the back of the ARMY in front of you, but all you could see was Hobi, saying he loved you. You didn’t know how long you sat there, your jaw dropped until it began to ache. It didn’t even occur to you to contact Hoseok again. Before you knew it, the concert had begun.

-

You sat on the curb, tears still running down your cheeks. The concert ended minutes ago, and you had filed out of the stadium with the other ARMYs and into the streets. Now you waited, staring into your lap. You inhaled deeply, only to let out another sob. The concert - seeing Hoseok - had been overwhelming. But they were tears of joy, you told yourself. You were crying because you were happy you saw BTS, not because you were having a panic attack, not because you were worried Hoseok regretted what he had sad. He hadn’t contacted you since then, after all.

A dozen thoughts began to ring through your head, which was throbbing, when your phone dinged with a notification. It was a text message from Hoseok. You figured he must have been too busy to contact you, so he sent a message instead.

Hobi <3: I’m sorry.

You didn’t respond, confused by his message.

Hobi <3: I shouldn’t have said that. I know I messed up. If you don’t want to meet anymore, I understand.

Your heart began to race. What the fuck?

You: What the fuck, Hobi? Of course I want to see you.

You sent the message. Not a second later you began typing furiously.

You: Did you mean what you said?

Of course you loved Hoseok. You’d known the son of a bitch since you were seven, and what began as a crush when you were in middle school developed into something more over the fifteen years you knew each other. He was your best friend, and you loved him. You loved his smile. You loved how he was sunshine incarnate. You loved how he wasn’t afraid to be sad around you like he was afraid to be in front of others. You loved how he made you laugh. How he made you smile. How he made you feel. You loved him.

Hobi <3: ...yes.

You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding.

You: I love you, too.

Hobi <3: Oh thank God!

Hobi <3: I mean- Can I see you?

You tucked your phone away and shut your eyes. It was always easy contacting Hobi when you were calm, or, in some cases, in a state of absolute panic.

There was no one around you. The nearest crowd of people were maybe fifty feet away, so it was relatively easy to hear to gasp Hoseok let out when he saw you, sitting on the curb. You opened your eyes, and saw him standing before you, still dressed in the pair of jeans and white t-shirt he had been wearing at the end of the concert.

“Hey,” You said.

“Hi,” He replied, a bid out of breath.

“Where are you?”

Suddenly you weren’t outside the stadium anymore. You were inside, in a dark hallway. You could see the boys walking down the hall. One of them, Jungkook, stopped to stare at Hoseok. “What’s up, bro? Why are you just standing- Oh,” He paused to look at where Hoseok was staring. “You’re talking to Y/N. Sorry.”

“You can talk to Y/N later, we gotta go, Hobi,” Yoongi whined from Hoseok’s side. “I want to get back to the hotel and eat.”

“Right, the hotel,” Hoseok turned to you. “When can we meet?”

You shrugged.

“Stay where you are, I’ll find you,” And he was gone.

You drew your knees up to your chest and watched as Hoseok hurried down to hall, jogging past the other boys. Hoseok rushed towards a set of double doors, pushing through them and into the parking lot. There were vans waiting to take the boys home, and they promptly filed into them. Hoseok slid into the passenger seat of one of the vans and turned towards its driver - his manager. He pleaded with Sejin-hyung to help him find you, which you enjoyed watching immensely. The way Hoseok awkwardly kowtowed in the cramped passenger seat, repeating how, “I have to see her, Sejin-hyung. She’s the love of my life,” had you smiling from ear to ear. Sejin relented with a loud groan, and started the car.

Jin, Yoongi and Namjoon sat in the back, while the maknaes had piled into the other van and were promptly following them as they drove through the parking lot in search of you, sitting somewhere on a curb watching cat videos while you waited.

Hoseok stayed alert, his eyes darting across the parking lot in search of you. “You know,” Yoongi broke the silence that had settled over the van. Sejin-hyung had stopped complaining about Hoseok and his love life some time ago. “The fans might see us and crowd the car if we keep driving around the parking lot. Shouldn’t you guys meet later, like, at the hotel?” He ended his statement with a wiggle of his eyebrows. Hoseok ignored Yoongi, and Namjoon smacked him on the arm, and Sejin-hyung responded with, “Aish, you boys stress me out.”

Yoongi was right, because not a second later a wave of ARMYs descended upon the van. Sejin cursed out loud, stopping the van, and Hoseok began to whine. “No, no, no, no, NO!”

Meanwhile, your attention was caught by a van pulling up in front of you, its door sliding open.

“Hey, Hobi,” Jin called from the back. Hoseok hardly listened, instead sliding down in his seat with a cry. “I’m on the phone with Jimin-hyung. They just picked up Y/N and are heading to the hotel.”

“WHAT!” Hoseok spun around in his seat, screeching at the top of his lungs. “If Y/N is stuck in a van with those clowns they’re going to scare her off-”

“Wait, hold on, there is no way I’m letting you bring a girl back to the hotel, Hobi. I don’t care if she’s the love of your life-” Sejin went on.

“Oh come on, Sejin-hyung,” Yoongi continued. “The poor guy stayed a virgin his whole damn life because he’s in love with this girl. Give him a break.”

“Yoongi-hyung!” Hobi cried.

-

The ride to the hotel was a hoot. Jungkook was more than ecstatic to practice his English with you, and Taehyung and Jimin had more than enough questions about you and your relationship with Hoseok-hyung to last the entire car ride to the hotel. Jin stayed on the phone with the boys, having questions himself, and refused to let Hoseok speak with you because, “You’ve spoken with her for the past fifteen years, Hobi, give us a chance.” And when the boys learned that you were fluent in Korean, the embarrassing stories of Hoseok commenced.

Meanwhile, Hoseok drowned in misery in the passenger seat of his van, all while listening to Jin’s windshield wiper laugh every now and then, and, on occasion, an embarrassing story that had Hoseok reaching over the van to swipe at Jin.

Your van was the first to arrive at the hotel, having left the stadium before Hoseok’s. You insisted the boys go up to their rooms to rest, that you would wait in the lobby to meet Hoseok, but Taehyung  wouldn’t have it.

“It’s so great that you’re real and Hoseok isn’t crazy,” Taehyung spoke, cuddling up against you. Jimin sat to your right, and Jungkook was sitting across from you. The other van had been caught in traffic, so the four of you, plus some staff, were waiting in the hotel lobby.

“I can’t wait to tell my therapist. She thought I was crazy too. If she didn’t love me so much she wouldn’t have let me come to the concert,” You added.

The boys laughed, and you joined them.

“You know, Hoseok is really in love with you,” Jimin said, resting his head on your shoulder. “He won’t shut up about you.”

You smiled madly at that, your mind wandering back to Hoseok. The entire car ride had been spent talking about you, so you hadn’t really thought of him enough to form a connection. But then there he was, sitting next to Jungkook, wringing his hands together. You didn’t say anything, only smiled at him. Hoseok looked up at you, and returned the smile.

“Y/N!” Jin yelled, barreling towards you. Namjoon and Yoongi entered behind Jin. Before you could search for Hoseok, you were blinded by Jin’s broad shoulders, his arms wrapped around you. “I’m so glad to finally meet my daughter-in-law!”

“Jin, what the fuck?” Yoongi said, standing next to Jungkook.

“What, it’s obvious Hoseok and Y/N are going to get married. I mean, he did save himself for-”

“Where is Hobi, by the way!” Jimin cut Jin off, much to Jin’s displeasure. Everyone turned towards the entrance, where Hoseok stood, wide-eyed and staring at you. You felt the pressure of the room, but you also felt the electricity of being in Hoseok’s proximity, something you haven’t known for the past fifteen years. It was different at the concert. You had mistaken that weird sensation for seeing your favorite idol in concert for the first time, that giddy feeling you get when you attend the concert of your favorite group. But being in the same room with Hoseok was… surreal, and it almost scared you that touching him would be even more.

“Let’s leave these two love birds alone,” Jin said, breaking the silence. But to you and Hoseok, every noise, every movement apart from each other, did not exist. It was just the two of you in that hotel lobby.

When the boys had moved towards the elevators, still silently watching you, you opened your mouth to speak, but Hoseok beat you to it.

“You look nice today!” He blurted. “I mean, you always look nice. I forgot to mention it...before.” His eyes trailed across your face, lingering on your lips which he so desperately wanted to kiss, and finally resting on your eyes.

You smiled, “You look nice too, Hobi. You look handsome.”

Hoseok giggled, he fucking giggled.

“So,” You began. “Is it true what they said, that you’re a virgin?”

Hoseok’s face grew a dozen shades of red. He began to splutter, and it took him a moment to form a coherent sentence. “You heard that?”

“Jimin told me,” You said, hiking your bag further up your shoulder.

“I’m going to kill Jimin.”

Of course you always wondered if Hoseok was a virgin. When you were young and curious, you thought about Hoseok a lot in that way. To be honest, you were quite shocked when Jimin told you he was twenty five and still a virgin. The two of you knew nearly everything about each other, but not this. You had spoken about sex before, when you were young and exploring your bodies. But truth be told, you had no friends to experiment with, and Hoseok was busy being an idol trainee, so the two of you painfully stayed virgins. And you were both in love with each other. You knew why you had never had sex - you had avoided relationships because you told yourself it wouldn’t be an honest relationship if your partner didn’t know about your connection with Hoseok, and you promised yourself to tell no one ever again about that. You avoided one-night stands and hookups because even being intimate with some stranger for a brief moment gave you anxiety. Call you old fashioned but you wanted your first time to be special, and you only imagined that with someone you loved, you only imagined it with Hoseok. So you had resigned to the thought of staying a virgin for God knows how long, because you knew you would never fall in love with anyone else. But then an opportunity presented itself, and a part of you wanted to get it over with, because you imagined Hoseok had lost his virginity to some pretty girl. You remember the night you had the chance to lose your virginity to one of your close friends quite clearly. You were drunk and overwhelmed. You went home alone and had a panic attack. Hoseok was there. He was there. And it occurred to you, as Hoseok held you, that you couldn’t lose your virginity to anyone else, not when you were in love with him.

“I’m a virgin, too.” You said after a long pause.

Hoseok looked up at you, perplexed. He wanted to say that he was relieved, that he was glad you hadn’t had sex with anyone else. But it occurred to him that maybe you didn’t want to have sex with him either.

“Oh,” He said. “Why?”

You were caught off guard by the question, but answered it nonetheless. “A lot of reasons. But I think… it was because I wanted to lose my virginity to you.”

Again, Hoseok’s face became all sorts of red. “M-me?”

You nodded. “I love you, Hoseok. I’ve loved you for a long time, and before it was silly, because I figured I would never meet you for real. But, here we are…”

“Right,” Hoseok swallowed. “Here we are.”

“In a hotel,” You added. “Where you have a hotel room.”

“Shit,” Hoseok gasped. “Right, yeah, my hotel room!”

Hoseok began to flounder, so you took the opportunity to move towards him. In an instant purely fueled by adrenaline and the urge to get it over with, you kissed him. Hoseok froze, your touch electrifying him. You pulled away, a worried expression on your face. But your panic was cut short when Hoseok pulled you back into his embrace, pressing his lips against yours. He snaked his arms around your waist, pulling you flush against him. You could feel his heavy heartbeat against your chest, or maybe that was yours. You could feel him.

The kiss turned heated, Hoseok eager to slip his tongue into your mouth and explore it, to taste you, to feel you. His hands began to wander down your sides, down your back. You could feel his hardness against your hip, and it had you pulling away. You pressed your forehead against his, brushing your noses together, and gasped for breath.

“Let’s go upstairs, yeah?”

Hoseok nodded fervently, looking deep into your eyes. He gave your butt a quick pat, before tugging you towards the elevators, where you continued your heated kiss, all the way to Hoseok’s floor.

But a thought occurred to you, and you pulled away from Hoseok’s grasp. He whined, and watched as you pulled your phone out. “But first, let me send a selfie of us to my therapist. Show that bitch for doubting me.”

Hoseok smiled into the camera, then placed a wet kiss against your cheek. You giggled at the sensation, and quickly sent the picture to Pam. Hoseok pulled out his own phone when it dinged.

Jinnie: I slipped a condom under your door, Hobi. Safe sex is important!

You sat at the foot of Hoseok’s bed, in your underwear. The TV was on and you mindlessly stared at it, but your mind was elsewhere. It was with Hoseok, who was in the bathroom washing his face. When he emerged from the bathroom, your face lit up, and it made him smile that sunshine smile.

“Hello, my love,” You said, stretching your arms out towards him. Hoseok gladly walked into your embrace, bending down to press a kiss to the top of your head while you wrapped your arms around his waist. Pressing your nose against his stomach, enjoying the way the taut muscle felt under your cheek, you inhaled his scent. He still smelled of sex, and a little bit of his cologne, and a whole lot like Hobi.

Hoseok placed his hands on the sides of your face, gently tilting your head to look up at him. The way he touched you was always so soft, so gentle, as though he were afraid you would crack. You, on the other hand, touched him as though you were afraid he would drift away. You supposed that was what you were each afraid of.

“Jagiya,” Hoseok spoke. “Will you be mine?”

The biggest grin took over your face. “Hell yeah, I’m yours. Hobi,” You whined. “I love you.”

Hobi pressed you down onto the mattress, straddling your hips, and commenced placing wet kisses all over your face. You giggled, gripping his waist. “Hobi!”

Hobi stopped, hovering over you, a toothy smile on his face. “I love you,” He said. “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Hoseok leaned down to kiss you. It was sweet and soft, and it made your insides all warm and fuzzy.

You stared into each other’s eyes, and it was a feeling beyond any you have ever felt, to have him there, in your arms, to be looking into his eyes and seeing that the love he felt for you was real. Hoseok was real. Your love was real. Pam can eat shit for doubting you.