Why do we "sense" when someone is staring at us?

Hey all, i posted this in the body language subreddit recently and wanted to get more of a spiritual perspective on this, as i tend to lean more towards spirituality than science. Im curious to learn more of the spiritual/metaphysical side of this looks like. Thanks!

I’ve had this happen a couple times recently and it genuinely freaked me out a bit.

I was at a hockey game (standard NHL-sized rink), just watching the game like normal, when I suddenly got that strong feeling that someone was looking at me. I brushed it off at first, you’re surrounded by people, of course there are going to be random glances.

But the feeling didn’t go away. It actually felt very specific, like I was being watched, not just glanced at.

I scanned the crowd across the rink… and realized a past situationship (ended badly) was sitting directly across from me, staring intensely.

Then it happened again at another game. Same kind of feeling, like I was being watched. This time I scanned the crowd more deliberately and spotted two past hookups sitting together… both looking right at me.

So now I’m curious:

Is there actually something going on where we can subconsciously detect when someone is staring at us (like picking up on micro-movements, peripheral vision cues, etc.)?

Or is this more of a psychological thing where my brain is kind of “on alert” and filling in the blanks?