“Okay, I think I got what I need.”

An hour and a bit later, it was still raining outside the hotel and Leela was done with her interview of Rain. She probably laughed more than usual; she didn’t realize how charming he’d be. And he really liked the sound of her laugh, more than he thought he would, so he tried to bring it out of her as much as he could.

“Thank you for doing the majority of this in English,” she said, stopping the recording on her phone and packing her things away. She stood up from her seat and held out her hand for a shake when he replied.

“No, thank you,” he said, taking her hand, “I don’t get to practice speaking it often, I hope you didn’t mind.”

“Not at all,” she chuckled, “Sometimes I think I’m forgetting the language since I’m usually in French speaking countries or here.”

There was a comfortable lull between them as they just smiled at each other. They didn’t even realize time kept ticking until one of his bodyguards walked up to them and coughed gently.

Leela widened her eyes slightly and shook her head to get herself out of the moment, quickly taking her hand out of his hold.

“I’m sorry, that was weird,” she blurted out as fast as she could, inching away, “Thank you, and I’ll email you the draft before getting it approved for publication.”

“Of course,” he replied, pausing before asking, “Would it be alright if I got your number?”

“Oh,” she started, freezing at the question, “