yesterday i visited the Serramonte Mall for the first time with jason and aileen (jason, whose idea of shopping is to visit EVERY store and not buy a single thing - sound familiar ladies?). in any case, serramonte mall, as my coworker would dub, is "the hang out for old philipino men." i can't speak on her behalf but it's definitely true. if you have ever been to stanford, you would know it's the hang out for "rich wives with newborns" - so serramonte mall is just like that, but just for philipino men (i feel like this could be an SAT analogy). they were sitting in every bench, at the food courts, walking around, even playing an electronic piano in front of the music store. i don't think i've ever been to a mall where i saw more mid-30's to 60's men in a mall than high schoolers, especially on a weekend. and with all that said, i had my first real experience with a pervert staring at aileen.

it was definitely a weird experience for me because guys stare at her ALL the time whenever we go somewhere, but nothing was like this one guy who stared at aileen. we were walking past these two philipino guys, mid 30's to lower 40's, who were walking in the same direction. one of them sees the reflection of us walking behind them in a store window and he slows down immediately after seeing aileen. he turns around and starts to stare. his eyes get bigger and his mouth opens a little bit. he is short, balding, and has a mustache - and looked a little unkempt. in any case, i look at this guy staring at aileen and start to feel a little uneasy because the way he's staring at her. i think at this point he is not even listening to his friend speak to him because he is TOTALLY into aileen. guys who stare at chicks on tv are nothing compared to this guy. we walk past and i just feel creeped out that he's probably staring at her backside. in my head, i'm thinking that i should probably stare back at the guy with a mean look - but of course i'm chicken and don't.
luckily for us, we're at the wrong end of the mall and have to turn around - which translates into second helpings for mr. heebie-jeebie. i tell myself to muster up courage and just stare him down this time if he does anything creepy. i say to myself, "if he talks smack, i'll talk smack. i'm bigger and taller, i could probably take him and his friend. maybe i should call jason and tell him to back me up." i was half-joking.
so as we make the second pass, he sees her immediately. his eyes widen, he starts to have this really weird smile, and this time - he just stares at aileen's chest. so i decide to do something about it, and i just stare at him hoping he would notice (and secretly hoping he wouldn't). of course, the world faded to black and he has no clue where he is or what his name is.
it never made me so disturbed to see a man so happy. so as we're walking past them, i tell aileen "did you see that guy drooling at you?"
"what guy?" she says. that's always her reply. i guess it's a good thing.
i turn around and point the guy to her, who is STILL staring at her.
"um... no.... was he?"
"okay nevermind..." i said and we continued on. i became paranoid later that he'd be following aileen around stalking her. it was that creepy.

so i know that guys look at aileen a lot - every time we go out - and i really don't mind. i think it's quite funny and we both get a kick out of it... but they're usually younger and asian, who suck in their breath or try to look tough by smoking their cigarettes. she even has a guy that stalks her in her class right this moment - a lambda frat boy at that. but do i feel threatened or protective? probably not. paranoid at times, yes. protective, not really.

but the guy from the mall... man... that was creepy.