Falling For You in the Wrong Century

CHAPTER 6: JUST A DREAM

When I open my eyes, Linda is leaning over me, her face worried. “Señorita Gracia! You’ve been asleep for almost a full day—we were so scared!”

I sit up, my head spinning. The street outside is empty again, no stalls, no carriages—just the quiet road I remember. I look down at my hands, expecting to see the dirt from walking the old streets, but my skin is clean. The wildflowers Romano gave me—they’re gone. It was all a dream.

Tears burn my eyes as reality sinks in. How could something feel so real, so vivid, if it was just my imagination? I spend the rest of the day in my room, replaying every moment with Romano—his laugh, the way he looked at me, the warmth of his hand in mine. I feel like I’ve lost someone I never even had, and the emptiness I’d felt before is now ten times worse.

Linda brings me food, but I can’t eat. I keep thinking about his face, the way he said my name. It doesn’t make sense—how can a dream feel more real than my own life? That night, I lie in bed staring at the ceiling, wishing with every fiber of my being that I could go back to him. That it wasn’t just a dream, but something real.