Have you ever wondered?

I was on a train from Harbourfront to Boon Keng. Think it was at Outram Station, a lady whom I thought was pregnant came into the already crowded carriage. Seeing no one offering a seat, I looked up at her and stood up. Trying my utmost to communicate my offer to her without any verbal cues.

She shook her head a little and gave me a smile. I sensed that she meant to say she do not need a seat.

I furrowed my brows while looking at her. Not unkindly but with a certain compassion which I hope was apparent. I was insisting she take my seat considering her condition.

She raised her eyebrows. In reply. Telling me, "well, if you must insist".

I stood up and moved sideways, a diagonal path divergent to allow a direct path for her to the now empty seat.

She promptly did a pirouette at a measured distance from the seat's edge so that her body now faced away from it.

Our movement, her's towards the seat and mine, away from it, was unrehearsed yet perfectly timed. As if a pair of dancers, in transit on the North East Line, momentarily synchronous.

It was when the moment was over that I sneaked a look back at her.

I was held aghast by a thought.

"She may not be pregnant!"

How do you get out of such situations when it's presumed that chivalry is dead?