Doppelganger Or Time Gap?

My name is Natalia, I am 30 years old, I'm Greek and I'm a psychotherapist.

This summer I visited my boyfriend in Pelio, where he worked for the summer. We stayed at his cousin's house which is an old traditional house in the woods.

To get to the door of the house you had to walk down a path off the road. Everytime my boyfriend and I heard someone walking the path we would run to the window to check if it was a stranger passing by or his cousin coming home. In that case, we would close our bedroom door. Soon, we realised that when laying in bed we could see who was passing by, simply by looking at the reflection of the open window. For that reason, we kept the window open at a specific angle and everytime we heard someone walking down the path we looked at the reflection and we knew who it was. It was a very rare thing for a stranger to pass by the house but it had happen a few times.

Everyday we would wake up and go to the beach bar where he was working and have breakfast together. The house was 20 minutes (driving) away from the bar.

One morning, I didn't want to go to the beach so early. Also, we had a small "fight" the night before and I was still a bit mad. I was awake because of his clock but had my eyes still closed. I was hearing him getting ready and I was wondering if he would kiss me goodbye. I opened one eye to see what he was doing and I noticed he had wore his swimsuit and a bright yellow t-shirt on top. I remember I thought "why is he dressed like Tweety in a swimsuit?" and then tried not to laugh because I was still a bit mad as I said. He said "I'm going, bye." and I said "Bye". When he closed the door, I watched his reflection, walking up the path to the road. When he got in the car and left, I grabbed my phone to text my friend and tell her about the "fight" we had the night before. At that point I was even more upset because of the way we had both handled it. I think it's important to make clear that I was upset, because being upset I couldn't go back to sleep! Therefore, what happened next could not be a dream!

I was texting my friend (I still have this conversation with date and time and everything) and half an hour passed. She was telling me her news when I heard someone walking down the path. I looked at the reflection of the open window and I saw my boyfriend, with his bright yellow t-shirt and his swimsuit, coming back. He was holding a plastic bag with (probably food) wrapped in foil so I assumed he had brought me breakfast. I found it a bit strange though that he wasn't in any hurry.

I immediately jumped out of bed to go and open the door for him and hug him and kiss him. When I opened the door he wasn't there. Also, there were no cats! You see, there was a cat family living in the garden and every time they saw him they would all run to the door because once he'd open the door he would pet them and feed them. Since he wasn't there I assumed the foil was cat food so I walked around the house expecting to see him feeding the cats. Nothing. I then thought, that maybe he forgot something and went back to his car to get it. I run fast up the path (barefoot) and he wasn't there either. Also his car was missing. I run back in the house got on the second floor and watched around the house to see if there was a stranger who simply passed by, wearing the exact same clothes as him. None. Then I realised that only half an hour had passed since he left for work so he would need 20 minutes to get to the bar and 20 minutes to drive back home. It didn't make any sense.

I called him and asked him "where did you go?". He said "what do you mean? I'm at work". I explained to him what I saw but I forgot to mention the food wrapped in foil! Then he put his cousin on the phone to assure me he wasn't around the house. I then texted my friend and told her about the incident.

Later that day, I fell asleep and slept until 20.00. I woke up by a knock on the door and when I opened it, the cats stormed into the house and there was my boyfriend standing, with his yellow t-shirt and everything, holding a plastic bag with food wrapped in foil.

I was speechless! It was like time continued from where it stopped earlier that morning.

I'm tired of people telling me I was asleep. I was not! I was running around the house, spoke on the phone and I was texting before and after the incident. Also, I was upset about the "fight" and the way we started our day so there was no way I fell asleep without even realising it.

Now, I want to add a story that my boyfriend told me in the past. Years ago, he used to be married. It was summer (again) and he and his wife were sleeping on the couch of their apartment. At one point she woke up and saw him standing in the kitchen and asked him to bring her some water.

He was not responding and he was staring at her with a flat, emotionless expression as she described.

She then realised that he was still sleeping next to her and woke him up! She told him "I can see you standing in the kitchen". He said "what?" And she repeated "I see you in the kitchen right now".

He then tried to get up, looked at the kitchen and he saw him too! As he says, "I was looking at me in the eyes". He then got up to get closer and no one was there.

Now, I googled a few things and I found about the term "doppelganger". The explanation of it though isn't clear to me.

I know it is not a exactly a ghost story but I still find it strange and confusing. Also, I am sure of what I saw and it was him! It was not blurry or unclear in any way. It was real!

So, does my experience make sense to anyone?

Thanks for your time!

Natalia.