The Last Dance

When everyone's gone, he would always be putting a red rose in the middle of the dance studio, start playing the music, then dance the night away. It was there that they first met. Such a funny meeting.

"Are you new?"

"Me? Oh no sorry, I don't dance, I just came here to watch..." She replied sitting on one corner of the room.

The class started. Everyone was silently warming up when suddenly...

KRRRIIIIING!

"Phones aren't allowed to be used during class." He reminded.

Everyone turned to the girl sitting in the corner. She gasped grabbing her phone, "Oh my god! Sorry." When the ringing stopped everyone returned back to minding their own business.

Silence... until...

KRRRIIIIING! KRRRIII—

"Ah! S-shit. Sorry." She apologized once again. But then...

KRRRIIIIING! KRRRIIIIING!

Everyone was looking at her but she just innocently looked back as if she didn't hear it.

KRRRIIIIING! KRRRIIIIING!

He scratched the back of his head then spoke, "Excuse me, if you want to keep watching you have to be quiet or—"

"But it's not mine." She cut him off.

KRRRIIIIING! KRRRIIIIING!

"Where the hell is that ringing coming from?" He murmured in annoyance. A student raised her hand.

"Um... sir, I think it's coming from your bag."

He scowled, "Impossible." He walked towards his bag and took out his phone.

There it is, the little culprit that was making all the noise. Everyone began to laugh. He looked at the girl in the corner who simply smiled back.

KRRRIIIIING!

He stared at the unknown number before answering it.

"Hello?"

"I was hoping you could help me. You see, I've been going to this dance studio for a very long time now, but I'm not really a student. I just watch from outside but I'm here now and I really want to learn."

He raised an eyebrow at what she said.

"So you told me earlier that you don't dance."

"I don't know how." She corrected. He ended the call and walked towards the girl. She put down her phone and stood up.

"Everyone can dance." He said.

And that's how they met. The first time he has ever talked to her.

He knew her from before but not personally. Yes, she used to look outside from the glass windows of the studio. She was younger back then and he was still a student. He never even knew her name, just her face and her smile of astonishment whenever she watched the people dance inside the big room. For some reason, he always saw her looking at him. When their eyes meet she just smiles back and the next time he looks back at the windows, she'll be gone.

Now, he wasn't surprised to see her, although he was confused as to what took her so long to finally decide to take a dance class... she seemed so willing to learn whenever he saw her from the windows. So... was she waiting for something? Soon, he found out.

She wasn't as talented as his other students. She would just dance randomly to any song playing while trying to add some of the steps that she could remember from the past lessons. She wasn't the best, yet she didn't mind. She cheered the others on, praising them every time they execute a new move. They joked telling her that she has two left feet but she just answers them with a smile saying "It's good to have feet. Two left, two right, left and right, right and left..." then they would all begin to laugh. Her jolly personality was what lightened up the whole dull studio. In just a few months, she was able to grow closer to everyone... especially to him.

She liked him even before then, during the time when she was still the girl watching from the glass windows of the studio. She never said anything and it took awhile before he realized what he felt for her. When they danced, she'd usually step on him accidentally but for some unknown reason he found patience. Something deep inside him telling him that it would all be worth it. She got better, from lesser aching feet to none. Soon he found himself yearning for that feeling of being with her. That's when he knew, he was sure, that feeling was love.

In that very same studio, he proposed, with the help of his other students. "Will you dance with me, forever as my wife?" She nodded, crying with flushed cheeks. The music played and they danced.

After getting married, they were back in the studio, just the two of them. He looked at her in her in her beautiful white wedding dress. The most beautiful thing he has ever laid eyes on. He smiled at how lucky he was.

"Can I have this dance?" He asked offering her a hand.

"You may. And the next, and the next, and the next..." She laughed. They kissed. It was perfect. Everything else was perfect. The music played and they danced.

Their lives revolved around the art of dancing. It was what kept them together and stronger.

One day, he received an opportunity to compete in a well known dance competition on another country. He needed to be gone for more than a month. She wanted him to go. He sought her to go with him but she insisted on staying. They called each other every day. She always wished him good luck. And he always told her how much he loves and misses her. She tells him the same thing.

A few days before the main event, she wasn't returning his calls nor picking up the phone. At first he thought that maybe she was just busy but after a few more days he still got nothing from her. He became very worried and began calling his other friends to check up on her. No one seems to know what happened to her. The unusual responses got him to worry some more. He didn't care about the competition, he just wants to go home and see his wife. And he did so.

When he arrived home he saw that his wife's things were gone as if they were taken in a hurry.

DING DONG

He quickly ran towards the door and was surprised to see his students. Confused by the nervous and sad looks that they were giving him, he asked first.

"Where is she?"

"We don't know how to tell you this..." A brave soul tried to explain. "But your wife... she... ran away with someone else."

At first he thought it was a joke, although it wasn't a very good one. However, his students then tried to explain the situation and they managed to convince him with their story.

She left him.

But why? Everything seems so perfect.

She was happy, wasn't she?

So many questions were running through his head but no one could give him answers. For days, it felt like his life stopped. He gave her everything. She was his life. And now, it was all over. He stopped teaching and he just drank his problems away. Never leaving home, hoping that she'd still come back and he'd be there for her. One day...

DING DONG

He ran quickly to get the door and to his surprise, it was...

Just another one of his students...

"What do you want?" He scowled.

"I can't take it anymore. Fix yourself and come with me." She said.

They arrived at their destination. The corridors were like a maze but they managed to stop in front of a certain room.

He tried to ask, "What are we—"

"Ssshh..." She hushed him as she opened the door. He followed behind and froze at what he saw or rather, who he saw.

She was so thin like she didn't eat anything in days. Her pale skin competes with the color of the white sheets of the hospital bed. But besides all these features, it was still her, the girl from behind the glass window, the woman he loves.

The student began to talk to the woman on the bed. "Hey, I have a visitor for you."

"Who?" She asked back.

That stung him inside. He was inside the room and yet she asks who? Doesn't she see him?

See him?

He walked closer and observed her eyes. They were open and yet they were just looking straight ahead. His student signalled him to come closer. He was about to ask if his suspicion was correct but the student nodded as if she already knew what he was going to say. He bit his lip before he took a seat on the side of the bed. His student walked out of the room to give them privacy.

When she felt her visitor sit beside her, she smiled. It was a weak one but it felt like it was the best her pale face can offer.

"So... who are you my mystery visitor?" She said trying to sound like her jolly old self but failed. However, instead of answering, he held her hand. Her eyebrows creased, confused at who this person was. He kissed her palm and placed it against his cheek. She gasped. Only one person does that gesture. Her tears began to fall.

"Hey there beautiful." He greeted feeling tears well up his eyes as he waited for her to react. She covered her mouth with her free hand and sobbed for a moment while her mind tried to process the familiar voice.

"Hi handsome." She greeted back with more tears falling from those unseeing eyes.

"How would you know that?"

"I just do. And besides, I see with my heart not with my eyes." They both smiled then he hugged her tightly as if she'd fall if he let go.

"What happened? Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I... didn't want you to see me like this. I didn't want you to worry. But then there goes my eyes and soon everything else will be gone. I don't want to be a burden to you so I asked everyone to lie to you about my true condition. I wanted you to forget about me so that you can be happy, win the competition and—"

"I didn't compete."

She was surprised by what he said. "But why? Wasn't it your dream to—"

"There are much more important things than winning a stupid competition held every year for millions and millions of people out there... BUT I only meet you once, and it's YOU that I can't bear to lose."

She had a rare disease that slowly disables different parts of her body. It is very hard to predict what part the illness will immobilize next. But every day he remained by her side, caring for her and loving her which was the best thing that anyone could ever give her right now. It was better than any of the medicine or remedy that the any doctor or the hospital could provide.

One day, she said that she wanted to go back to the dance studio. By this time her legs have already been affected by the disease so he had to take her there on a wheelchair.

"We're here." He said kneeling in front of her. She just nodded. He examined her face. Even though he tries to deny it every day, she wasn't getting any better. He sighed and kissed her forehead.

"Wait here."

For a moment she was left alone in the middle of the studio. She longed for it—the smell of the place and its ambiance. Maybe she can't see but still, she can imagine herself standing at the center—healthy, music playing and everyone watching. She tried to reminisce all of the memories she had in this place—The place where she first saw the love of her life. All of a sudden, she heard music play then a voice coming from the other person who was with her.

"Can I have this dance?" He asked in the tone that he used every time he said those five magical words.

She couldn't stop the tears from falling. She slowly shook her head.

"I can't... dance anymore..." She said in a very weak tone. He wiped the tears away with his thumb.

"Silly, I told you before didn't I? Everyone can dance. So can I?" He asked again lifting her up from her wheelchair and carrying her on his arms. More tears fell. She held onto him tightly.

"You may. And the next, and the next, and the next..." She whispered. They swayed in accordance to the song. The music continued to play and just like before they danced.

They arrived back at the hospital. He puts her back in bed gently tucking her in.

"I'm tired." She whispered barely audible.

"Ssshh... Just rest now, okay?" He said stroking her hair. "But don't give up, you have to keep fighting, you can win this." He said before giving her a gentle kiss. She smiled.

"I already did." She whispered holding his hand tightly. "When I met you, when I danced with you, when I married you, when you came back for me, See? I've already won so many times; it's not so bad to lose once in a while."

With those last words said, she closed her eyes and went to her really long slumber.

Weeks after she passed away, she sent all her dance classmates a letter of gratitude. She must have written them herself when she was still in good health. They recognize her hand writing. He, on the other hand didn't receive any. He was confused and he wondered if there was a delay of his letter. Soon he did receive one but it wasn't from his wife. It was an unknown invitation to go back to the dance studio. He hasn't been back there in days since she left. When he arrived he saw a tape and a bouquet of roses in the middle. The words "Play me" were written on the tape.

He stared at the TV screen as he waited for the player to do its job.

"Hmm... I think it's recording." She said looking at the camera. She seems fine, healthy and beautiful just like before. "I guess I should start." She shot this in the studio. She smiled. "Did you get the flowers?" She asked and he gripped the said item tightly. He nodded feeling the tears welling up his eyes again. He missed her... so much.

"I remember people giving performers flowers as a sign of a job well done. That's why this time, I'm giving you yours for doing a wonderful job at loving me. You see, even when I was little, the doctors told me to stay away from any activity that requires too much energy since it might trigger my illness. I tried to do as they say but then I came across this studio and I saw you. I came back here every day to watch you dance. You were still a student back then and then you grew up to be a great instructor yourself. Since then, I told myself that I want to dance and I will, with you, no matter what. So thank you, my love, for making my dream come true and for dancing with me, this beautiful dance called life."

As the music comes to a close he smiles and leaves another rose for today.

Dance brought them to one another...

And it would forever bind them together.

A/N: Thanks for reading :")) This is a one shot dedicated to an amazing friend :D I cried while writing so... I really hope that you guys liked it. Please read and review :D