It was August and the weather started to change in München as every year, the sunny and warm summer slowly faded away leaving the rainy and cool Autumm arrive. Not all days had rain in it, but that one was one of them. How Manuel Neuer hated to train under rain was starting to get well known for everyone despite his short weeks being a Bayern player; because it was clear that it got in his spirit and mood.
Since the work began on the FCB training camp on Säbener Strasse, people had gone to support their players way before the season started. Sometimes, around four thousand fans could be seen watching the training. However, that day, wasn't one of them. The amout of viewers could be counted with the fingers of one single hand. Four. And how could someone be blamed for not attending when a storm was falling getting everyone soaked in less than a minute. It deffinitely bothered Neuer.
It was an hour on the training session when the rain eased a bit, letting Manuel stop dreading on how wet he was and focusing on the few fans that were still watching them instead. One caught his attention. A girl standing exactly on the middle line of the pitch with what looked like a notebook on her hands. She was a small one, one that would barely reach his shoulder. The curious girl was wearing a dark raincoat, high boots and a large umbrella.
He couldn't see her face clearly, partly because of the hood that was covering her head and party because of the umbrella's shadow, but he could swear she had her eyes fixed on him. It made him feel uncomfortable. Lucky for him, after a moment of heavy staring, she lowed her gaze to the notebook on her hands and began to write. A reporter? A stalker? Who knows but Manuel couldn't care less about it. Not when he was dripping rain.
After another half an hour of exercise, the day outside was finally over. Everyone was rushing inside to get dry as soon as possible, but Manuel couldn't help but to stop and stare at the coated girl who was still writing. The rain ceased falling and, as on cue, the girl rose her eyes finding Manuel's on the process. She took her hood down and then he could see she was a small brunette with olive skin and piercing green eyes. He was astonished.
After a moment or two, she smiled making a cute pair of dimples appear on her cheeks. In that exact second, someone appeared by Manuel's side. Bastian Schweinsteiger, but Manuel was oblivious of it; he was under the spell of the beautiful creature standing 20 meters away from him.
"What are you doing? Weren't you so hurried to finish the training to get inside?" Bastian said thinking the goalkeeper was only fooling around. "Manu, I'm talking to you!" Still no answer. "Ok, man, what are you looking at?" Bastian turned to look on the same direction Manuel was and couldn't help but to crack a laugh when he understood why his teammate was so captivated.
"So now, you too" Muttered Bastian while making a short wave with his right hand in direction to the girl. To Manuel's surprise, the girl laughed and waved back, then turned around and left the players' sight.
"Do you know who is she?" Were the first words Manuel could say after the shock he was in finished.
"Yes. Well, no. But yes." Bastian answered in a nonchalant tone. When Manuel turned his face to him, he knew he should better clarify the rambling he just said. "She's been coming once per week for the last seven months. Every time she comes, she stays there, watching and using that pad of hers. Some of us had tried to come closer but she has always left before a word is spoken." Bastian explained while they started walking towards the showers.
Manuel stood in silence for a minute, thinking. "So you don't know her name."
"Nope." Was the short answer.
"You have never spoken to her."
"Nope."
Suddenly, Manuel felt a pang of sadness that he failed to explain. It was a fool feeling for someone he barely saw a few minutes. But still, he had a doubt.
"What does she do on that notebook anyway? Is she a reporter or something?" He questioned waiting for another negative response.
Bastian chuckled a bit. "Have you seen all those drawings on one of the gym's walls? The drawings of us players and even some staff?" Manuel nodded. Of course he had seen them, he spent two hours a day on that gym and those drawings never failed to amaze him for its accuracy.
"Everytime that girl comes, a new drawing is left under the front door." Said Bastian earning a surprised look from Manuel, who remained speechless. "It's been like that since seven months ago."
The teammates walked together to the showers in silence. Manuel was too lost in thought to pay attention to anything else. However, when he was about to enter the shower to wash away the rain, he could hear Bastian say, "Hey, maybe it is time for you to get your own drawing. We'll see in a minute, won't we?"
After a not so quick but refreshing shower, Manuel dressed up for his gym daily routine. When he left for the gym, he was almost running not being able to contain his curiosity about today's drawing. Would it be post already? Who had she been watching today? He entered the large room and walked straight to the further wall and there, hanging on the last place of a long line, was a drawing of him, looking annoyed and wet but with a glint in the eye that he didn't know he had.
He was there. She was an artist.