Sounds strange? Well, that was exactly what happened to London-based artist and paraglider Laura Melissa Williams.

The reason?

She had accidentally caught the attention of Malaysia’s teenagers after they sat for the SPM English paper.

Accidental 'idol'

One of the English comprehension questions was about a fictional paraglider named Melissa who described her hitting a storm-cloud - described as "being tossed around in a washing machine" - and having to be rescued from the roof of a farm by villagers.

Following the exam, a student, for some reason, decided to Google the question and found out that the fictional character is actually a real person, after stumbling onto William’s social media account.

Hence, the hashtag "The real Melissa" was born.

"It's a bizarre set of coincidences that created the perfect storm and then went viral," Williams told BBC News.

She even found it funny at first because of the memes about washing machines and farms.

View this post on Instagram

Hello to all SPM students in Malaysia. I woke up 2 days ago to find out I’d become very popular in Malaysia and was receiving thousands of messages, memes and comments on Instagram and Twitter. I was linked to a case study in the SPM English exam paper about a 16 year old paraglider called Melissa that had an accident while flying, that every 17 year old in your country had to answer. As you’ve probably realised by now, the Melissa in your exam paper has nothing to do with me - I simply happen to be a female paraglider - who loves the sport - and whose middle name is Melissa. Since all this started 48 hours ago I’ve had over 150,000 comments, likes and tweets - which - to be honest - is totally surreal… and quite overwhelming too. A lot of your messages have been beautiful and kind and I’ve been encouraged by their positivity - thank you. I’ve visited Malaysia before and love your country and I’m glad that so many of you are interested in trying paragliding. It’s a great sport ? However, some of the messages I’ve received haven’t been so nice: nasty messages like these are hurtful and can cause mental health issues. As a 30-something woman, I am old enough to see through this but if I was, in fact, a 16 year old girl, it's very likely this would be a different story - those who posted these comments should think before they act in future. C’mon, please #haveaheart - we’re all just humans after all ❤️❤️ Coincidentally, I’m an artist who works on projects that focus on the fusion of technology and human behaviour and how it impacts on our bodies, hearts and minds. You have given me the most amazing source material for behaviours on social media and an insight into what it feels like to be someone who’s encountered cyber bullying. As I’m sure you’ll understand, I’m not going to be posting on here over the next few days while this calms down. In the meantime, I wish you all the best of luck with the rest of your exams! Bye for now x #haveaheart #heart #theheartmatters #cyberbullying #malaysia #spm19 #art #artist #british #uk #paragliding #flylikeabird #thiswomancan @fly_sussex_paragliding #choosekindness #stopcyberbullying @ditchthelabel ? Luis Parsons

A post shared by Laura Melissa (@lauramelissawilliams) on Nov 8, 2019 at 2:37am PST

However, overtime, she began getting concerned when the comments became nastier and more sarcastic, whith some questioning 'Melissa' if she should even be paragliding in the first place.

"I checked with some Malay-speaking friends as I started worrying, I got a bit concerned about any threats - they just said it was mainly immature," she said.

Later, another hashtag, "Stop cyber-bullying Melissa" was created when local influencer Arwind Kumar posted a video asking the teens to stop what they are doing.

"There is a fine line between making a joke and being extremely rude,” he said in his video.

Again, Williams found herself flooded with apologies from Malaysian teens.

"I awoke to thousands of messages of apology, from students across Malaysia - some of whom posted nasty comments originally and now regret it and some who apologised on behalf of their cohort," she said.

She even received invitations to go to dinner in Malaysia, offers of gifts, and apologies from school teachers, influencers and the media.