Minako sat high up on the mock perch, wondering for the hundredth time in the past few minutes if it was worth it. She was terrified of heights – she always had been. It was only her constant ability to fall in love that brought her to this point. The photographer was young and handsome, but then they always were in her eyes. His long blonde hair and sharp green eyes had left her awestruck from the moment she first laid eyes on him. Something in his features was absolutely angelic and she wanted nothing more than to have his attention turned on her, for him to caress her cheek, to tell her she was beautiful. It seemed that she would have to settle for two out of three.
She had made the embarrassing mistake of trying to kiss him while they sat hunched over his kitchen table examining her latest shoot results. As her lips brushed over his he quickly pulled back, leaving her eyes wide and cheeks flushed. How could she have mistaken his attention for affection? He told her that it was ok, although in the same breath he told her that his heart belonged to someone else. It left her feeling envious that someone so passionate had slipped through her fingers. But it seemed that was the way that it always went with her.
So that morning, she showed up at his rented studio space before the sun even rose and prepared for this photo shoot. It never ceased to amaze her how he came up with such beautiful ideas. She was to be the caged bird singing as it sat on the verge of freedom, perched upon the wreath of Venus. Many people would never understand Zane, nor would they see the beauty behind his ideas, but she was absolutely enraptured.
Although none of that mattered anymore.
She sat through her hair and makeup, trying not to cry as the beautician so carefully applied the layers of dark eye shadow to her face and replaced her blonde locks with a dark wig. Zane told her that it was perfect to show how the beautiful Venus changed while trapped within her cage. Did he understand what his imagery did to her heart?
A harness was carefully wrapped around her nearly bare body, which in the past would have left her embarrassed by the array of eyes that had access to her. But that was the past, she had grown used to being on the sets of these shoots and realized that most of the people milling about were as used to seeing a nude model as she had become to being the nude model. This morning was different though. The man who was systematically helping to prepare her had somehow managed to keep most of the sets of eyes off of her, which she found comforting since her day hadn't started out nearly as well as she would have liked. His rough hands were comforting and he spoke to her in a light tone as if he understood that she needed the extra compassion.
His eyes were a deeper shade of green than Zane's and his hair was so light that it was nearly white, although it was hard to tell exactly since his hair had been trimmed to nearly a buzz cut. Once he had her assured that she was safe and wouldn't fall from the perch, he stepped back to let the wardrobe people swarm over her, quickly covering her in a flowing black gown. As she was hoisted into the air she looked for Zane and noticed he was standing next to Kai, the handsome man who had just been helping her. She wouldn't allow herself to cry, she had to let this infatuation go.
As she rose into the air, sitting on the edge of a red, human sized bird cage her hands grasped tightly onto the metal bars, her fear of heights beginning to overtake her. She could feel her heart racing as her breath caught in her throat. This was just another job, she told herself. It was then that she felt those same eyes from earlier watching her. His cool, friendly gaze somehow calmed her and she allowed herself to breathe thinking that perhaps he would be the perfect distraction for her recently broken heart. As her eyes drifted from Kai to Zane, she briefly caught a glimpse of the hopeless look in Zane's eyes as he gazed fondly at Kai.
Minako shifted into her pose as she had practiced on the ground, her arm extending out in front of her as if reaching for something that could not quite be obtained. Perhaps Zane does know why the caged bird sings because he is that bird who can see what it most desires from where it is perched but can never do more than dream.