MARCH 12, 20XX
THURSDAY
'Taehyung'

It feels wrong.

It feels wrong being here and not with her.

"Taehyung!" Irene rushes over to me, grabbing my arm to hang onto as she leans over to catch her breath.

"Irene?" My eyebrows scrunch up, concerned.

Irene smiles before lightly flicking my forehead. "It's starting!"

My stomach flips and I suddenly have to use the bathroom really bad.

"I-'  Before I could back out, she drags me to the side of the stage where I'm in direct view of Sungjae standing on the opposite side.

His hand curls up into a fist at the very sight of me.

I gulp hard.

We're really going to do this, huh?

I scan the auditorium from where I stand, amazed at how packed it has gotten.

"Ready?" Irene asks me as she places the camera strap over my head.

"Not quite...where's Jimin? He's supposed to be my assistant..."

Maybe Jimin wasn't a solid choice. 

He probably went out again last night.

"I'm here!" Jimin runs over to stand beside me, fixing his hair.

I relax just a little bit, returning my attention to the host on stage.

"...and so the competition officially begins. Kim Taehyung and Yook Sungjae to the stage, please."

With a few strides, Sungjae and I quickly become face to face.

"A pity you actually showed up." Sungjae fakes a sad face.

"The only thing you should pity is not having enough money for the return flight." I retort.

Sungjae scowls at me before Bogum turns him around to pull him to his station on the stage.

Jimin pulls me over to mine.

The curtain goes up between us and I angrily place my hands on the table, leaning in.

I'm seeing red.

Jimin comes into my view. "Hey! Concentrate. You have a competition to win."

Right, this can't all be for nothing.

I clutch my hand close to my heart, thumb running over my wedding band, feeling more at ease.

The competition moves fast, every round under pressure as we struggle to change our camera settings and snap as many photos as we can. We then had to quickly edit them on our computer before submitting them to the host's computer, where they would be projected at the end of 10 minutes.

There's no time for me to realize how bad I'm shaking. The first round was models, the second round was a product. 

"A cup? How boring." Jimin picks up the item.

I quickly come up with an idea, changing my settings as fast as I can. "Quick, Jimin. Throw the cup lightly, placing your hands around it so I can get a shot of it looking like it's floating."

Then I'll blur out the background and make the design stand out. 

"I-It's ceramic."

"Jimin!" I shout at him.

He quickly does as he's told and manages to save the cup from falling.

I nod my head before making way to my laptop where the software's open, the picture dropping into my files.

Before I can edit it, my smartwatch alerts me of a text. 

Looking at the screen, my eyes widen.

Jungkook: Jennie's in labor.

Jungkook: Wtf r u doing, man.

My heart stops.

Jennie...

You're about to deliver our baby...

And what am I doing?

My shoulders fall.

"Taehyung?" Jimin places a hand on my shoulder, the crowed quickly picking up on my hesitation.

I look him in the eyes.

"I'm...gonna forfeit."

Jimin chokes. "You're going to what?!" 

"I got to go. I have-" I start to take off my camera, but Jimin yanks me close to him.

"Taehyung, you can't." 

"I have to."  

Irene all of a sudden appears right beside me. "Taehyung? What's going on."

Jimin is quick to fill her in.

"Taehyung! This isn't just a slap on the wrist. This is serious. Do you understand what losing this competition means? You're out for good. You'll be a struggling artist. That reputation will follow you. "

"It's not worth having Jennie mad at me for." I shake my head, feeling my heartache.

Something flickers over Irene's face. "If she loved you, she would understand you're doing it for her." 

I look up at her, still in doubt.

Jimin runs his fingers through his hair, "Imagine how much you could do for Jennie if you win. You guys are still living with your parents, you don't want to be stuck there forever."

No, I didn't.

I already knew to be a photographer was a hard career, but I thought it was enough for me.

However, I had a family to worry about now. How would I provide for them?

"1 minute left!" The host shouts out.

I stand there, not sure what the right thing to do is.

"Taehyung." Irene pleads.

"...40...39...38..."

Before I run out of time, I quickly make a few edits before airdropping the photo to the main computer.

For Jennie.

For our family.

__________________________________

A/N: For those of you maybe wondering why people get kicked out of the program if they lose the Skal d'arte it's because it's punishment for being cocky enough to say you're a better photographer than someone else. It's against what Scenery Studio stands for, so they said fine if you lose the competition, we don't need you.