Chapter 235 Why did it sound so real?

Chapter 235: Chapter 235 Why did it sound so real?

Alessio stared at the screen.

One hour?

His eyebrows slowly drew together.

How could he have spoken to Daisy for an entire hour?

He couldn’t remember most of the conversation but surely he would remember hearing her voice for that long.

Unless...

He opened their chat.

A single message appeared beneath his call history.

Hello.

His breath caught.

That was all she had sent.

Just one word.

Alessio sat on the edge of his bed, looking at the screen as if it might reveal an answer if he stared at it long enough.

He only remembered calling her and exchanging greetings but he didn’t remember what happened afterward.

He pressed his fingers against his temples, trying to piece together the evening.

But that beautiful voice... He could almost hear it again if he closed his eyes.

Alessio did exactly that.

For a moment, he sat motionless, searching his memory for the sound.

But the more he tried to recall it, the less certain he became.

Perhaps Rafael was right.

He had drunk far too much. He had been exhausted, frustrated and desperate for something to go right that day.

Maybe his mind had simply given him something he wanted.

A voice.

A moment of warmth in the middle of a miserable night.

He slowly opened his eyes.

"Daisy..." he murmured.

The name sounded strange in the empty room.

Alessio looked at Daisy’s message one last time before setting his phone beside him.

Hello.

Just one word, yet somehow, it had managed to occupy his thoughts more than anything else that night.

He rubbed his tired eyes and glanced toward the window. The sky was still dark with only the faintest hint of blue appearing along the distant horizon.

It was barely five in the morning.

He couldn’t possibly go knocking on Daisy’s door at this hour just to ask whether she had spoken to him over the phone.

Especially when there was a very good chance that he had imagined the entire thing.

"Damn whiskey," he muttered.

He lay back against his pillows, intending to get some sleep before the household woke up. His head was still aching and his body felt exhausted after the previous night’s drinking.

But the moment he closed his eyes, that voice returned to him.

Hello.

Alessio opened his eyes again.

Why did it sound so real?

He could remember the softness of it, the faint huskiness and the strange feeling that had swept through him the moment he heard it.

He had heard Daisy communicate countless times. He knew the little expressions she made when she was embarrassed, the way she smiled when something amused her and how she sometimes typed a message only to erase it before showing him a different one.

Yet he had never heard her speak.

Not once.

He turned onto his side and reached for his phone again, staring at her name on the screen.

I’ll ask her in the morning.

That was what he decided.

If Daisy confirmed that she had spoken to him, he would have to figure out how it was possible. If she denied it, then he would accept that the alcohol had played tricks on his mind.

Simple enough.

With that thought, Alessio finally put his phone away and closed his eyes.

He was asleep within minutes.

But even as exhaustion pulled him under, a part of him remained caught on the memory of a voice that might never have existed outside his own mind.

?┈┈┈┈?

At exactly 5:30 in the morning, Daisy woke up with a terrible headache.

She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping the pain would disappear if she stayed still for a while.

Unfortunately, it only seemed to get worse.

A dull ache throbbed behind her forehead, spreading toward her temples. She pressed her fingers against them and massaged gently but it barely helped.

She glanced toward the bedside table.

She didn’t have medicine with her.

Daisy let out a small, frustrated sigh.

She could go downstairs and ask Rika if there was any medicine in the house. However, the thought of stepping outside her bedroom so early in the morning made her hesitate.

What if she disturbed someone?

Daisy pulled the blanket over herself.

I’ll just sleep a little more.

That was the plan, anyway.

She curled onto her side, tucked her hands beneath her cheek and tried to relax.

The room was still dark, with only a faint blue glow slipping through the curtains.

Gradually, Daisy’s body grew heavier.

Her breathing slowed.

Her eyes remained closed.

Yet the headache refused to leave.

It was a strange sensation, almost as if her body had fallen asleep while her mind remained painfully awake. She could feel herself sinking deeper into sleep but the ache in her head continued to pulse through her awareness.

And then, somehow, she found herself feeling even more awake.

Not in her bedroom. Somewhere else.

Somewhere that felt strangely familiar, although she couldn’t remember ever having been there.

A tall man stood in front of her.

He had long hair that fell past his shoulders, framing a handsome face. His features were sharp, his smile charming and there was something almost playful about the way he looked at her.

He seemed pleased to see her.

Daisy, however, didn’t share his enthusiasm.

For some reason, she didn’t like him.

She couldn’t explain why. He hadn’t done anything obviously unpleasant and his smile looked perfectly friendly.

Still, something about him made her uncomfortable.

She glanced down.

She was holding a piece of bamboo craft in her hands.

Her fingers were wrapped around it as though she had been working on it for quite some time. She could see the intricate details of the bamboo, the little pieces fitted together with surprising precision.

Then the man said something.

Daisy looked up at him.

Her lips moved.

She was speaking. Not typing on her phone or gesturing with her hands.

Speaking.

The realization should have surprised her but inside the dream, it felt completely natural.

She couldn’t understand the words coming out of her own mouth. They seemed to belong to a conversation that had started long before she arrived.

The man’s smile gradually disappeared.

Daisy’s expression changed, too.

Whatever she said appeared to anger him.

He replied sharply, his handsome features twisting with displeasure.

Daisy clutched the bamboo craft more tightly.

She said something else.

This time, the man’s face became ugly. Not merely angry.

Something about his expression seemed distorted, as though the face she had been looking at was no longer the face he truly possessed.

Daisy took a step backward. He moved closer.

Their expressions grew increasingly unpleasant as their argument continued, their voices rising into something she could no longer understand.

Then everything changed...The surroundings darkened.

The man’s face disappeared into the shadows.

The bamboo craft slipped from Daisy’s fingers and the entire world went black.