I've been a long time lurker of this sub, but (thankfully) never had anything worthy of posting. Unfortunately, that changed a couple of weeks ago. I'm not much of a story teller, so bear with.

For a little bit of background info, I'm a junior in college (originally from the U.S.) studying abroad in Hong Kong. Though battling a minor language barrier, I immediately fell in love with the vibrant city! It didn't take long to feel at home and get familiar with my surroundings. After a matter of weeks, I was practically a local.

I'm reluctant to say that in exchange for feeling so comfortable in the area, I may have let my guard down in the process. Being a 5'6 120 pound female, I recognize the importance of staying vigilant ESPECIALLY when venturing out on my own. Though pretty athletic, I'm not much of a threat against anyone that may want to hurt me, which leads me to the encounter I had some weeks ago.

I decided to head over to a smaller mall to kill time one afternoon while my friends were in class. When I say small, I mean in comparison to some of the massive retail metropolises located elsewhere in the city. This place was still no joke. I had begun to frequent this mall, as it was not a far trip and an easy place to visit with a couple of hours to spare, so I knew the place pretty well.

Also important: Hong Kong is fairly diverse compared to most places in Asia, but being blonde and white, I get A LOT of stares. I am usually one of few, if any, white people around whenever I leave campus, especially in the areas with small numbers of tourists. This makes other people of the same race stand out to me in a crowd as well, which is why that afternoon I had noticed two white men showing up in the same places I was. Now before you roll your eyes, this mall is good sized, but small enough where that wasn't particularly unusual. A lot of the major stores are in the same area, so I figured they were shopping around like I was. I didn't get that eerie "I'm being watched" feeling, and I wasn't even sure that they had noticed my presence whatsoever; I hadn't caught them looking my way even once. Besides, I have a pretty good sixth sense about those kinds of situations. After growing up in some major cities, my parents made damn sure stranger danger was ingrained into my brain as a child and that I knew exactly what to do if I found myself in trouble. I was aware of the men, but I wasn't worried.

An hour or so after I had last noticed the two men, I was milling around, Starbucks and a few shopping bags in hand, mostly people watching at this point and debating whether or not it was time to go back to campus. To avoid the crowd and getting bumped into (lack of awareness for personal space seems to be a common thing here?), I went slightly out of the way to walk through a quieter walkway that passed by a couple luxury stores and an exit. Let me emphasize, there were still PLENTY of people around. They just happened to be further to my right, while the luxury stores and exit were to my left.

I'm still wandering, lost in my thoughts, when someone coming from my right bumps into me. Seriously? With all this empty space around? But this time, there were finger nails digging into my rib cage. They hadn't just bumped into me, they latched on. Whoever it was was behind me, and walking perpendicular to my previous path. Their right hand was positioned under my right arm, pushing/pulling me with them. To any passerby, he was positioned strategically enough that you probably couldn't even tell what was going on. He knew exactly what he was doing.

It took me a minute to register what was happening, especially since I couldn't see the assailant from their position behind me. Once I snapped out of it, I was stunned. I stumbled along with him for a moment, trying to shake loose. This guy was STRONG. Victim to his steel tight grip, all 120 pounds of me was not going anywhere besides exactly where he wanted me. Fear seized my mind and body as his massive grip tightened and those long fingernails delved deeper into my skin. Then, a confident, gravely voice that was enough to make anyone's skin crawl barked into my ear, "Do NOT fight. I. Will. Win."

At this point I'm panicking. I manage to look behind me, and who do I see but one of the 6'5 white musclemen from before (big surprise, I know). He snarls at me and slams his left hand in the same position under my left arm. I look towards where we're headed and see the OTHER equally as monstrous white man posted up waiting for us, right under the illuminated sign that read "Exit."

I heard a family friend's (who used to live in HK) voice in my head, "You will see sex trafficking while you're there. It's everywhere, but as long as you're careful you'll be fine," a warning he had headed before I left. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK. Suddenly, that panic that had created a fog around my brain turned to pure adrenaline. I was no longer scared; I was PISSED. Not thinking, rather operating on autopilot, I garnered a strength I didn't know I had and ripped free from the veteran kidnapper's grip. I would like to say I ran like hell to get help, but again, this was my hyped up adrenaline-ridden brain acting.

I whipped around, mere feet away from my attacker, and glared at this man as if saying, "Try that shit again. I dare you." If looks could kill. He looked absolutely stunned that I had managed to pull free, but at this point the interaction was no longer disguised as a normal encounter. More people were around, and without the opportunity to make it appear as if I was acting of my own accord, he knew he missed his chance. He glared back momentarily, but motioned to his buddy and they booked it out the exit without their intended target.

Just as fast as it had come, the adrenaline rush was gone. I was shaking uncontrollably, fighting back tears, his touch burning into my flesh long after he had gone. I looked around me, stunned no one had stopped to help or even witnessed what had just happened. I took a moment to compose myself physically (my mental state was another story), and slowly and vigilantly, walked my shaking self back to the bus that would return me to my safe haven on campus.

While I can't say for certain what their intentions were, I have a pretty good guess. I can only pray the next girl is as lucky as I.

: I forgot to mention that I did end up talking to mall security that put me in contact with law enforcement! I did not think to include this information when I first posted, which I now realize is a pretty important detail to omit. I was hesitant at first, for I didn't expect that there was much they would be able to do. While there wasn't, I felt it was my responsibility to at least try to help prevent this from happening again.

Some of you are also questioning the validity of this story. For reference, I am an engineer major and am heavily lacking in imagination. While I wish I was lucky enough to be blessed with the talent, creative writing is unfortunately something I have never been good at. Let me clarify-- due to his desire to be discrete, the places the assailant had hold on me allowed me lot of leverage to twist in a way that his arms were unable to bend in order to escape his grasp. I think attention to detail is incredibly important in drawing awareness to how terrifying these kind of encounters are, and after talking it over with so many people (police, security, parents, etc.), the details are pretty well-etched into my memory whether I like it or not.

My goal is to draw attention to the true danger of these situations, and hopefully empower anyone who might be in a similar situation to never question whether or not they're exaggerating the severity of the encounter after the fact (this was my initial reaction). Let me stress,

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