Just to share what happened earlier. My daughter wasn’t well so I brought her to see a doctor at Vista Point. After we are done, we had to wait awhile as it was raining cats and dogs. Even though I have an umbrella with me, I feared for her safety with all those lightnings happening.
To cheer her up, I took her to this bookstore with a variety of toys. Oh btw, my husband was supposed to meet me there but he was caught in the rain and had to stay put at work.
We were in the bookstore for almost half an hour. Going through shelf by shelf, putting unnecessary things in our basket from Hello Kitty to silly art and crafts. Despite all the stories I heard and read about child kidnapping, I have always kept my daughter close at least an arm distance away from me and most of the time holding hands.
I was about to make the payment when suddenly this Chinese lady came over to my daughter praising my daughter’s bag in Mandarin. Hearing her accent, it could not be other than a PRC. This lady was pretending to look for something at the shelf where my daughter was standing.
Somehow I felt something amiss and I grabbed my daughter’s arm. That lady was scrolling her phone while pretending to look for her thing. I carried my daughter and told her to hug me tightly. Furthermore, my daughter looked tired apart from her being sick.
The cashier was super slow, so I took this chance to have a good look at that lady. I guess my stare was sharp enough to make her feel nervous. She hurriedly grabbed smtg (a blue dual sharpener) from the shelf and trying as hard as possible to hide her face away from me. Too bad lady, I have memorized yr “pretty” face and yr clothes. She told the cashier in Mandarin she was in a hurry and insisted to make her payment first. The cashier told her to wait since she is still serving me. The more I looked hard at her and also the store surroundings if there are other PRCs waiting outside. None.
After my transaction is done, I purposely waited outside the store for her. She didn’t dare to walk straight and kept adjusting her hair to cover her face. She walked so fast to the opposite direction and almost hit the column. What’s the hurry lady?
I saw my neighbor and we chatted awhile and off we go to continue our unnecessary shopping spree.
I couldn’t imagine if I were to be the careless mother or eyes-stuck-to-the-phone type. What I had experienced could be a pure luck that lady being appraisal or it could have been something else. If yes, these people do dressed up well and they probably had learned their escape route well.
I feel sorry for those missing young children. This thing is real parents. If not for my daughter being unwell plus the bad weather combo, I wouldn’t have wasted my time lingering aimlessly. Last I read all these was happening at Bugis, read here and now Woodlands.
To all parents and guardians, please be fully aware of the surroundings and things around you and advise yr helpers on this. Always, always locked yr eyes on your small young children who can barely speak proper words. Better be safe than sorry. No point crying over spilled milk.
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