The tiles felt cool against her forehead. She kowtowed three times and looked up at the statue. 

The goddess smiled at her comfortingly and she felt as if the deity would pick her up, hold her in her arms and allow her to lay her head against her chest. She thought of her mother, and how she would rock her and sooth her when she was a toddler. If only she could cling to the goddess' skirts and stay forever. Forever be within her protective sphere, untouched by the world outside. She wished she could be like her, so serene, so merciful and yet so strong. The goddess had a beauty very different from her own, one that did not need to be enhanced with make-up, one that did not need revealing dresses or fake diamonds.

- The model pursed her lips and leant forward, showing her décolleté. The thin cloth was loosely draped over her curves and hardly hid anything. She spread her legs and placed her toes firmly on the ground. The slip of her dress fell between her thighs like a banner. On it, in golden calligraphy, the club's name with two dragons crawling around it. She pressed a finger against her lips and a flashlight blinded her.

- Smoke poured from the sacrificial vessels and a sweet scent filled the air. She rose, bowed three more times and sighed. What could they do to her? She looked at the encouraging face of the deity, who told her all would be right.

- " Those folds are all wrong. You, whatever you're called, fix it."

A skinny girl with huge, frightened eyes knelt down before the model and plucked the silk of her dress. She draped the flap carefully over the floor in such a way that the characters were clearly visible.

The photographer pointed at her lap and the girl stroked the cloth around the model's tights. Her hands were raw and strong, like a worker's. They seemed so much unlike her own delicate fingers. Not manicured and tender, but instead they seemed to have a strength she envied. Just like her beauty was an asset, such hands were capital.

The girl looked at the model with those scared eyes and she resisted an urge to touch and reassure her. Whatever troubled the girl was not her business.

- She stood before the sacrificial vessel and prayed. The goddess had once sacrificed both her eyes and her hands to save a father that had not even loved her. What then did she herself owe to parents who had always done anything for her?

- " I didn't ask you to smile cutely. I told you to smile seductively. Try to be horny."

She took a deep breath and tried to imagine she was somewhere else, looking at a different man, but it did not work. She felt nothing...

- What would they think if they'd ever find out? What would they say if they knew she had lied? She was a model, but not the sort of model they imagined. There were no fancy cars and swimming pools for her. She didn't show the latest fashion and the jewellery wasn't real. She was just a billboard blessed with long legs.

- " Can you make one more picture, please?", she asked him. He nodded and gestured that she could pose. She made sure that the characters were hidden from view and the  bangles and bracelets sparkled. She was successful and rich. She earned money like water and could afford the most expensive clothes.

- Before she would step into the bright daylight, she looked at the goddess one more time. Only the gods knew she had not eaten for two days. The goddess knew how she earned her living, but she did not condemn her for it. The goddess had seen all sins and suffering and she did not judge her for what she did.