I've never been as excited as this before

I carried the cat to my house and discovered it was a Ragamuffin. Such an adorable and majestic cat. Ugh, how was I so sure that this cat didn't belong to someone?

Though, it still looked young, about a month old. How did it even survive in the wild for so long?

"I'll clean up the blood and take you to the vet first thing tomorrow. Bear with me, Lily." I said and paused. I just named the cat without even thinking about it.

Lily purred as if giving her consent to the name. I smiled and rubbed her fur.

This one-room studio... This space that felt so big yet being so small, suddenly felt like it had closed in. There was just a little addition and yet the difference was so big.

"Haah." I laid back on my futon. "It doesn't seem so bad. I'll just have to buy a few cat things."

I sat up again and opened my laptop.

"Hm, I wonder how expensive cat things are now." I muttered, typing in my password and stretched.

"Meow." Lily purred next to me.

"Oh, right. I think I have a can of sardines that you can eat." I said, got up and went towards the cabinet. There was one can of sardine.

I didn't take sardines regularly because they were expensive and most times refrigerated the rest after taking a few from the can.

Lily would definitely finish a whole can.

As soon as she smelled the sardine, she cat-walked towards me and started eating in a rush. It looked like she was really hungry.

There was no poised way of eating so I was certain that she had been a stray for quite some time.

And with this, my one can of sardine being gone in one sitting, I was able to confirm that taking care of a cat was definitely not cheap.

"Alright, let's see how much I need to struggle for in the coming month." I said and sat behind my laptop.

I was just about to search some shopping sites when I discovered I had an unread mail.

Who would it be from?

Probably one of those companies I had applied for work. The disappointment was already used to me so I didn't think much of it and opened my emails, but as soon as I saw who the sender was my eyes widened and my heart raced.

"That... That's..." I gulped.

My hands started trembling.

It was an email from the competition. Has it been a week already? But wait, I didn't know we would be messaged individually if we didn't make it.

Well, it was a huge company so maybe they did things differently.

'Ugh, do I need to open it? I know I had high hopes for that picture but there could be several people who could take pictures as good as me or even better.'

I contemplated deeply. I would have to open it eventually so why not open it now when my blood was still hot?

"Lily, wish me luck." I said but Lily ignored me and focused on her can of sardines.

I reluctantly clicked on the mail and my eyes widened.

"This... This..."

Was I dreaming? This was the first time I had ever gotten a positive response through mail. They were all words that contained 'We apologize' and 'We are sorry to inform you'. This was a really big deal.

"Lily, you're my lucky charm." I said with eyes of admiration at the cat who was just minding its own business.

I was happy. So happy. I finally achieved something and I will meet them tomorrow.

Wait, tomorrow?

"Tomorrow?!" I exclaimed, shocked.

That mail was sent early in the morning and I was just seeing it. What would I wear? Where do I start from?

"Oh no, I'm dead."

I began to panic and scatter my entire wardrobe in search of something presentable to wear.

I have a few suits I wore to interviews. They were still in my wardrobe... Right? Where was it when I needed it so desperately?

"Meow!" Lily purred and rested her head. She was getting ready to sleep while I was still panicked as to where my suit was.

It took about an hour, of searching this small studio before I remembered the exact place I kept it.

It was hidden underneath my wardrobe all along. Nearly folded and scented in case of emergencies like this.

"Oh God, I have to get up early tomorrow. I'll have to call Mrs Bin and let her know I won't be able to come in tomorrow morning and my afternoon job too. But I'm sure I can make it to my night job and..."

I made all the necessary preparations and then laid on my futon. My insides were bursting with excitement.

'I've never been as excited as this before and I honestly can't wait till the day breaks.' I rolled on the futon. 'I don't think I can sleep.'

Well, that was just me being over-excited. It didn't take up to an hour before I lost myself to sleep.

The next day, on my way to the company, I dropped Lily at the vet, and explained to them how I found her and that I would be back later to pick her up.

The bill was of course not something I could handle on a normal day but this wasn't a normal day. I was going to get my prize money for winning the contest and it was a lot.

I could feel steam coming out of my nostrils in excitement. Gosh, what was wrong with me?

This feeling of self-fulfillment was so wonderful that I felt nothing would ruin it.

And it even got better when they praised my talent and offered me a job at their company, which came with a house as well.

'Is this a dream? Someone tell me 'cause I honestly don't want to wake up.' I thought to myself.

"Although, there is a condition." The director addressing me said and I nodded.

Of course, there would be a condition. There was no way I would get all that benefit without a catch.

"Please, do tell." I said as politely as I could.

"Such a reasonable young man." The director laughed. His name was Soo Woojin. The vice president of 'Wailers' and a famous director. "Well, this condition is not difficult. Since you're the one who took this picture, you'll definitely be able to contact your muse, right?" He asked and my smile twitched.

"Uh... That's..."

"So, here's the condition. You have to convince him to join our company as a model. What do you think? Easy, right?"

"Eh?" My smile stiffened. What did I just hear?

"There are a lot of people who aim to be models and we can promise to give them as many benefits as they desire." He proposed with a bright smile. "Just as long as he signs the contract with us and becomes our exclusive model, he will never lack anything, and you, my friend, will be an exclusive employee in this company. So, what do you say?"

I was speechless. Touched, saddened, and dumbfounded.

He wanted me to contact Seojin. And not just that, I'll also have to convince him to become a model. I... I knew there was a catch but wasn't this a bit too much? I was just one person and... Those were the same people I wanted to stay away from so I sneaked out of their house in the middle of the night.

I... I felt so much like ripping my hair out.

"I..." My smile stiffened up even more. "I'll think about it."

Think about what, exactly? This was the case of a mouse going to the cheese which it clearly knew was stuck in a trap.

I... I don't want to be that mouse. But I didn't want to be a hungry mouse anymore.

"Please, give me a few days. I... I'll get back to you."