A woman was out on a casual shopping trip with her sister at Bedok Mall when a man she did not know suddenly approached her.
He allegedly got close to the woman’s face and whispered some unsettling things into her ear.
Following the incident, the woman took to TikTok to share her experience and warn others of the man’s behaviour.
On Sunday (14 Jan), the woman, who wishes to only be known by her TikTok username @ariyakult, posted a video on the social media platform telling other females to keep an eye out for “creeps” at Bedok Mall.
This was because she had “encountered something really weird”.
She recounted that she was chatting with her sister while they were strolling around Bedok Mall when a man in front of her started walking in her direction.
@ariyakult described the man as “really big”. He was also wearing all blue and had a mask on.
“And then suddenly, he went up really close to my face, and he whispered in my ear, ‘I love you.'”
Source: @ariyakult on TikTok
The OP expressed that she was “taken aback” as she could feel his breath on her ear.
“I got a shock because I just suddenly heard someone’s voice,” she explained in the video, visibly frantic.
In response, @ariyakult said that she turned around and yelled at the man, demanding to know what he said to her.
It was at this point that the man ran away.
However, she did not pursue the man as her sister suggested that he might have special needs and they did not want to be insensitive.
Source: @ariyakult on TikTok
“But then after that, I thought to myself when it was too late, that doesn’t give him a reason to do that to random girls,” she continued.
@ariyakult concluded the video by urging others to stay safe.
She said: “All he did was do that in my ear, which is still weird, but I just hope he doesn’t do anything worse.”
Speaking to MS News, @ariyakult confirmed that the incident took place outside Swensen’s at Bedok Mall at around 12pm on 14 Jan.
Source: Google Maps
She added that the man was alone when he approached her.
Although her sister was by her side the whole time, she was not able to hear what the man whispered into @ariyakult’s ear.
There was also another family who witnessed the TikTok user yelling at the man, but she reckons that no one noticed what happened prior to that.
When asked whether she lodged an official report regarding the incident, she said that while she didn’t take any legal action, she hopes her tale sheds light on how often this happens to girls in Singapore.
“In my TikTok comments, people — I’m pretty sure a majority being men — cracked jokes and made fun of the situation, which may help lighten the mood. But at the same time, it discourages other victims from coming out,” @ariyakult elaborated.
“I don’t think they’d have the same attitude if it happened to their sisters or close female friends or their girlfriends.”
In fact, she felt that some were victim-blaming.
Source: TikTok
“People were saying I’m schizophrenic, I imagined it or I’m ‘ugly’ so it shouldn’t have happened to me. Like, huh?”
The main message she wants other women to take away from her experience is that they should not be afraid or feel ashamed for sharing similar stories. After all, doing so can help create more awareness regarding this issue.
This is especially so for those who have kept their experiences to themselves for a long time, she said.
@ariyakult added that she merely wanted to look out for the safety of young girls who frequent the mall. She told MS News, “Bedok Mall is filled with a lot of young secondary school girls. I never want something like this (or worse) to happen to any of them; that’s why I made this post.”
The TikTok user ultimately advised young girls to stay safe.
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Featured image adapted from @ariyakult on TikTok and Streetdirectory.
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