Gil watched as she crossed the road, waving to the driver that had slowed for her. Every day was the same routine; always meeting this strange girl at the same intersection at the same time. The only difference was her absurd outfits and the weather and of course, today it was pouring.

Just coming back from a boring conference, he slung his tie over his shoulder.

"God, I can't believe I still put up with him…" He was the vice president of their company - by theirs, he meant his and his brother's company, which had been passed on from their father. Upsettingly, his younger brother had been the one to take it over.

He loved his brother dearly, but there was a bit of shame to it.

Gil quickly cleared his head of these depressing thoughts when he noticed the girl across the street: why was she still standing there?

In her bright yellow raincoat, the girl merely stood on the sidewalk, staring up at the clouds.

He had made up his mind. Gil waited for the right moment to cross the street, and called to her,

"Excuse me miss? Is there anything I can help you with?" She was still staring at the clouds when he made his way up to her.

"...Excuse me?" He slowly waved his hand in front of her, and jumped when she flinched.

"Oh! I'm sorry, you were talking to me?" Now that he had a close look at her, he could see her pale complexion, along with a light dusting of freckles across her nose and… she had the strangest shade of blue eyes. They almost looked violet in the light.

"Uhhh, yes, I was wondering what you were looking at."

She groaned in embarrassment and smiled. "I didn't think anyone would notice my daydreaming… I-I was… watching the rain in the sunlight."

Gil couldn't believe it. This girl was certainly different. He had never seen someone pause to stare at something for so long - and the rain, at that - because everyone was always busy with their day-to-day lives. It was a bit easier to understand when she added, "You see, I'm a photographer, so I wasn't exactly daydreaming I guess, I was kind of lining up the shot. If I would've brought my camera today it probably would have been my best shot so far."

He smirked at her ramblings. There was a slight pause before he held out his hand in greeting.

"Gil." The blonde smiled and shook his hand. "Madeline, but people usually call me Maddie. Haven't I seen you around here before?"

Gil pointed his thumb behind him, towards a tall building. "I walk to work, I only live a couple blocks away."

Maddie glanced at the building he was pointing at nonchalantly and stared in awe at him. "Wait, you're Gilbert Beilschmidt!"

"I didn't think my rep was that well-known."

She switched between looking at the giant logo and the man standing in front of her. "Your company's only the biggest in the city, everyone knows about you and your brother!"

"Yeah, well," Gilbert glanced behind him, "Not anymore. I don't want to work under my younger brother for the rest of my life. I'm gonna quit."

Madeline's eyes grew wider. "You can't just quit! Wasn't that your dad's business originally? And what would Ludwig think? You're giving up on a company that's worth millions!" She frantically tried to make her point known through the emphatic use of hand gestures before Gilbert cut her off.

"Listen, if you want the job, you can have it, but I'm done with people bossing me around. I'm a free bird." Gilbert paused before looking right at the blonde. "Which reminds me birdie, we should have coffee some time."

Maddie's face felt a bit warmer at the mention of a date, along with a rather... interesting nickname.

The girl just stared at the man as he quickly patted his pockets and then snapped back into reality when Gilbert asked, "Do you have a pen?"

She quickly patted her pockets, then she rummaged around in her purse before she found an old pen at the very bottom and gave it to the other. Maddie was surprised when he grabbed her wrist.

Gil took the pen in his left hand and held Maddie's wrist gently with his right. Gilbert slid her sleeve up, past her shoulder. He wrote on her arm, in big numbers, ten digits, then replaced the pen into the other's hand.

"See you later, birdie. Call me!" Gilbert shouted over his shoulder as he walked away.

Looking down at the ink on her arm, Madeline smiled and rolled up her sleeve. Gilbert was a strange man, she thought. Yes, she would call him, as soon as she got out of this downpour.