Lina was a quiet girl with an impossibly big dream. No one around her had ever studied abroad, no one in her family had even thought of. But from the moment her language teacher spoke once about his days in Belgium, something inside her lit up.

For years, she fought.She studied through exhaustion, wrote long emails to professors, and filled her green notebook with careful lists of universities and deadlines. But every attempt ended in failure: a wrong form, a late embassy appointment, a denied visa, her mother’s illness.

Worse than the failures was the slow fading of people’s hope in her. 

Pity, mockery, silence. Only her mother still believed. But at night, Lina cried in fear of time slipping away, of one day waking at thirty with nothing real behind those dreams.

And then came the night of defeat. Rain tapping the window, rejection emails glowing on the screen, her green notebook abandoned. In the stillness of that room, something broke inside her until suddenly, everything paused. No flash, no light. Just a strange, heavy silence, as if the air itself had stopped.

Chapter One: The Fourth Failure

On a misty autumn morning, Lina once again gathers her documents and walks to the embassy, carrying the weight of years of effort. She recites her checklist in silence, clinging to a thread of hope. But when her turn arrives, the cold official behind the glass tells her that her file is incomplete. All her sleepless nights, every ounce of energy, seem to dissolve into nothing. She leaves with lowered head, the rain outside mixing with her quiet tears. The next day, she visits a translator’s office, only to be told she must redo every document. Time is slipping away, and with every passing hour, her dream feels more distant.

At home that evening, her mother tries to comfort her, reminding her of her resilience as a child. But the silence between them weighs heavily, for both know how much harder life has become. In the days that follow, Lina seeks encouragement from her friend Neda, who tells her not to give up, though her words feel like a faint light flickering against an endless darkness.

Every day repeats the same rhythm: obstacles, rejections, endless waiting. And every night, Lina sits alone with her green notebook pages filled with lists, plans, corrections.Though her strength wanes, she cannot surrender. Somewhere inside the hope that one day she will step beyond the failures and reach the dream she has never abandoned.

Chapter Two: The Discovery of the Five-Minute Power

Lina’s days continue in the same gray circle of effort and rejection, until one winter afternoon something impossible happens. While reading her green notebook, she suddenly finds herself transported back to her first day at the embassy just for five minutes. In that brief return, she speaks more carefully, corrects small mistakes, and even receives a kinder response. Then, as quickly as it began, she is back in her room, shaken but certain it was real.

Slowly, Lina realizes she has discovered a rare ability: to go back in time for five minutes, only once every few weeks. It is a fragile but powerful chance to fix her failures and change her path. Yet every return leaves her weaker, weighed down by fatigue and the heavy responsibility of reshaping her life.

Still, for the first time in years, she feels hope bloom again the hope that this strange gift could finally lead her to the dream she has chased for so long.

Chapter Three: Doubts and Hard Decisions

Lina begins to fill her notebook not with dreams of migration, but with notes about her strange five-minute power. She replays the moment of her return again and again, torn between two paths: to fix her old mistakes, or to keep moving forward despite repeated failures.

In her Italian class, a lesson on life’s choices shakes her heart, and later in a small café, Neda urges her to trust her gift and dare to change. Lina confesses her fear of wasting her last chance, but Neda reminds her that courage itself is the first step.

That night, at home, her mother quietly holds her hand and promises her unwavering support. Alone in her room, Lina turns the idea over and over in her mind, until at last she resolves to use her power deliberately to go back and repair her past from its roots.

She does not yet know that every return will test her strength, confront her fears, and pull her deeper into a path she cannot escape.

Chapter Four: A Blink Into the Past  The Beginning of Return

On a cold, foggy night, Lina prepares for her first deliberate return to the past. She focuses on the day her documents were rejected at the embassy, determined to change the outcome. As time shifts, she finds herself back in the waiting room, facing the same official, but this time calm, confident, and fully aware of the moments she must seize.

During the five minutes, Lina answers questions with clarity, corrects her mistakes, and even shares a glimpse.

of her dreams, earning a subtle but meaningful recognition from the official. When the moment ends, she returns to her small room, heart racing, realizing she has opened a door that once seemed locked forever.

Though victorious, she senses the weight of responsibility her gift carries. Each return demands courage, focus, and the willingness to face fear and uncertainty. Yet in the midst of the darkness, a small light of hope now shimmers clearly like stars through the fog outside her window guiding her toward the path she has longed for.

Chapter Five: Beyond Hope

Lina’s day began with a crushing email: her visa was rejected due to missing documents and insufficient funds. Time seemed to stop, but she refused to give up.

Days passed in confusion and doubt, haunted by unanswered messages and her friend’s cautious question: “What if it doesn’t work?”

A sleepless night brought memories of her twelve-year-old self, dreaming of studying abroad. A meeting with a consultant confirmed her fears: her finances and visa history were obstacles

.

At home, her worried mother called. Lina reassured her with a faint smile, though inside she felt lost. Alone, she opened her journal, reading: “Only once every few weeks, only five minutes. Think carefully.” She didn’t know if a mistake existed, but a tiny spark of hope still burned inside.

Chapter Six: The Shift

Lina held the chair tightly, surrounded by the same cold light, the same smells, even the same coffee stain. Yet she was no longer the same. Memories of hesitation, forced smiles, and the counselor’s hopeless gaze were sharp in her mind.

When the phone rang, she admitted calmly that fear had kept her from opening embassy emails for months fear of herself, fear of failing, fear of reaching a dead end

The counselor nodded, understanding. “Many feel this, but some let it crush them, others move forward.”

“I was in the second group,” Lina said. “But not anymore.”

A list of steps for admission and documents was handed to her, with guidance promised. Lina smiled, aware but resolute. “I won’t promise not to be afraid… but I won’t run away.”

Everything looked the same, yet those five minutes of reflection had quietly changed everything.

Chapter Seven: Time, the Silent Enemy

Lina no longer feared mistakes or outcomes. With her power, every slip became a reason to return, every moment a chance to perfect life. She no longer lived she only corrected, obsessively, until compulsion replaced choice.

One Wednesday, her body collapsed. Five days in a coma followed, while her mind endlessly returned, trapped in a loop of correction and failure.