Woman at the mall

My sister had told me that at the mall one of the shops had their clearance sale and they had amazing collection. Since me and my mom both of us wanted to buy traditional outfits we decided to visit the mall. We decided to go on a Monday so that we can avoid the weekend crowds.

We went to the mall on Monday. As expected the mall was almost empty. The shops to did not have many visitors. We visited the shop and found that apart from us there were a couple of other shoppers. Me and my mom were browsing through the collection to see if we are liking anything.

While I was looking through the collection I saw that a woman probably in her late 20s or early 30s had been around me. She was with a man presumably her friend or husband. I noticed her because a couple of times I had seen her glancing at me. To me it looked like she wanted to speak with me. I thought to myself, "what if she wants to let me know that she was in trouble? What if the man with her is not the right one for her and she is looking for an escape? What if she needs help? What if she is looking at me again and again so that I could notice her and approach her so that she could get help?" All these questions where crowding my mind. I rememberd watching a couple of videos on social media where girls try to get attention of other girls to seek help. They gesture or they speak with other girls and symbolically tell that they are in trouble. I thought this was one of such cases.

I decided to move to a section which was exclusively for women's ethnic wear. I wanted to test my theory. If she followed me meant that she wanted to speak with me. I moved to the section and I deliberately stood where she would not be able to see me. The woman followed me to the section. Once she arrived there, she was looking around evidently searching for me. I was looking at her and she met my gaze. She walked towards me and I understood that she wanted to speak with me.

Before she could speak I asked her myself, " I noticed that you were looking at me a couple of times. I intentionally moved to this section. Do you need any help? Are you in trouble?" I was definitely worried for the girl. While I was speaking I noticed that she was wearing a mangalsutra which meant she was married. Again I thought, "what if this is a marital trouble?"

The girl first look confused but then she smiled at me, "yes I wanted to speak with you. The woman with you, is she your mother?"

I nodded. I could not understand instead of asking for help why was she asking me about my mom. She said, "I noticed that she has trouble walking. I am an Ayurvedic physician and I have my clinic nearby. Please bring her to my clinic and I will treat her very well. She would be able to walk normally within next 3 months. You will be shocked with the results". Then she handed me her card.

That was a complete facepalm moment for me. Here I was worrying about this woman's safety and wellbeing whereas she was chasing me to promote her own clinic. For a moment I was angry with myself for over thinking. Because of my over thinking I was not even able to enjoy my shopping experience.