(Mature content)

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She was lying on her bed naked while he zipped up his pants. She let out a sigh of relief as this ended quickly. He paid her and left.

He was her fourth customer. She was completely exhausted, but she needed to clean up and get ready for the next customer as her pay rate has considerably decined over the years.

"In any job, with experience, you'll be paid more. But, this prostitution is the only job in which earnings decrease with experience", she mumbled to herself, draping the saree over her.

The next was a rich man. He was her regular. Many times, he promised her better future, he made her dream, but at the end, he just used her and left.

At the start, she believed him. As the time passed, she realized that all those men tell fancy tales just tp drive out their urge. She realized that rich and poor, class and decency, everything is pertained to the day only. And when the Sun sets down, they all behave in the same way with her, spranging on her like wild wolves.

She thought that perhaps the opposite of love is being used. Being used in body and soul.

She dressed herself, reached home and before changing into night dress, she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

There were innumerable scars and bite marks over her body, blood oozing from her parched lips; those scars are all nothing to be proud of. Yet she was a warrior, a warrior who's inhuman to this world. A warrior, who fights to feed the mouths in her house. With tears in her eyes, she dressed into her night gown.

"Maa, I'm hungry, yelled her six year old daughter. "We're already late for the supper". She fed her daughter, and while tucking her in, there was a sparkle in her daughter's eyes. She knew that it was love and that's all she needed to get through any day.

"Maa, I stood first in the class in today's test", her daughter said shyly showing her test paper. With tears of happiness flowing in her eyes like a stream, she hugged her daughter tightly.

Later, when her daughter is asleep, just like everyday, she asked herself, "Is it worth doing this job?" The answer remained 'yes' even that day.

It was love that got her into this business. It was love that would sustain her.