Music blaring in the background, she stepped into the dance studio to find Junhui teaching his last class. Smiling to herself, Baekhee quietly closed the door behind her, hoping that no one would see. She always loved it when she made it on her way home from work to see the last few minutes, when the piece was most together. When everyone’s hard work paid off. When it was the last dance of the day.

“Alright everyone!” Junhui shouted from the front of the class, facing the mirror, a giant smile on his face. Bouncing to the beat of Seventeen’s Highlight, he nodded his head and hit his fist in the air. “Five! Six! Seven! Eight!”

And just like that, everybody behind him followed in his beautiful footsteps. As Baekhee watched, Junhui lead the mass of beautiful dancers in the choreography he crafted. With every fluid body wave or intricate tick of the arm, she saw his eyes light up and a giant smile stay planted on his face. Ever since she’d known him, her boyfriend had loved to dance. It brought out this light inside of him and it shined even brighter when he was teaching a class. From the front corner of the room, Baekhee bobbed along with her eyes glued to his dazzling face. She could watch the boy she loved do what he loved forever.

With a final spin and pose to the mirror, the music stopped and everyone cheered. Junhui collapsed over his chest, letting everyone see just how much effort was put into that routine. But before he turned to compliment all the dancers behind him, he shot Baekhee a glance and a knowing smile, making her insides race. No matter how much it seemed like he didn’t see her walk in, Junhui always knew when she was there. Baekhee gave him a round of applause before he went off and hugged his students.

“Great work today guys!” he called out as they all started to make their leave “I’ll see you guys on Wednesday! Stay loose! Don’t get hurt!”

Chan, one of Junhui’s favorite students, went up to him and patted him on the back. “Thanks for all your hard work, Jun.”

Junhui laughed and ruffled his hair before pushing him away. “Don’t get too sappy on me, boy. Drink a lot of water.”

Chan smiled and waved as he ran out after his friends. Once all the students had cleared out, Baekhee made her way to her overly talented boyfriend. With him hunched over, she leaned down and teased, “Am I allowed to get sappy on you, teacher Jun?”

Standing up, he spun around and smiled down at her. Wrapping her in his sweaty arms, he suffocated her in his soaked chest. “You’re always too sappy with me,” he said, shaking her back and forth.

Laughing into his body, Baekhee tried not to get too gross. Pushing herself away, she smiled up at him. “That dance looks amazing baby.”

Always pleased with her compliments, he kissed her on the forehead and stepped out of her embrace. “You should learn it!” he exclaimed, hopping to the middle of the dance floor.

Even after an hour long class, he always seemed to have so much energy, and it baffled her. Staring at him with her uncertain face, Baekhee crossed her arms. “No thanks. I’ll just watch.”

“Come on!” Junhui whined, coming over and pulling her hands out. Wrapping them in his own, he swung her along the wood floor. His sneakers made this squeaking sound that only he could make pleasant as he laughed and spun her around. “Dance with me!”

“Baby, I can’t!” she laughed.

“Dance with me!” he screamed again.

“You know I don’t dance!” she argued, laughing along and trying to stop the world from twirling.

But it was no use. When Junhui got like this, there was no stopping him.

Four years ago, Baekhee fell in love with this boy from her high school class. Back then, he was just a student who liked to dance a lot more than he liked to study. She didn’t know him too well in the beginning, but she had very clear images of him smiling and laughing with his friends in the hallway. But the moment she fell in love with him was one she wouldn’t soon forget. She was leaving the school when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a group of guys dancing along the street. They didn’t even have any music, just a friend of theirs beatboxing to give them something to go off of. As she approached the small crowd that formed around them, Baekhee quickly realized that the best dancer amongst them was Junhui. And that was the first time he ever noticed her enjoying his performance.

Since then, they had both started college and gotten jobs to help support each other. Living together, it really seemed like it was them against the world. Junhui’s parents were all the way in China and Baekhee’s were distant in other ways. After class, Baekhee went to her job as a convenience store clerk. It wasn’t great but she was willing to do it to get through school. And she was always so grateful that Junhui was able to find work with what he loved. Baekhee could never imagine him taking on anything else.

Like the day she fell in love, there wasn’t even any music playing, but Junhui managed to make everything into a playful sort of dance. Laughing until she fell into his arms, Baekhee screamed, “I think my head’s gonna fall off!”

Ignoring her cries, he laughed until he found her lips. Kissing her passionately, he had to take a breath when he let her go. “Don’t worry. I’ll be here to catch it.”

When Baekhee finally got her feet planted firmly on the ground, she just shoved him away. “You make me very happy, you know that?”

With a light sigh, he couldn’t help but take in how beautiful he found her. Letting his shoulders slump, a soft smile replaced his laughter. “That’s all I can hope to do.”

Seeing that he’d calmed down, Baekhee returned the gentle grin. But it was almost weird how quickly he switched from hyper to so mellow. “Hey,” she said, pinching his chin. Squinting at him suspiciously, she asked, “You okay?”

But Junhui just took a second to stare at her. Breathing slowly, he took both of her hands in his. Baekhee knew for a fact that she could gaze into Junhui’s eyes for days, but something about the way he was looking at her made her worry. “Baby?”

Still smiling, he let out a quivering breath. Shaking her hands, he nervously swallowed and said, “We need to talk.”

Surprised, Baekhee jolted her head back. Furrowing her eyebrows, she wasn’t sure where this was coming from. “Baby, is everything okay?”

Junhui didn’t answer. Instead, he just twisted around and lead Baekhee to the second-story patio alongside the dance studio. It was evening, so the sun was starting to set. Blocking its rays from her eyes, Baekhee shielded her face with her other hand. Junhui eased her outside and let go. Still confused, Baekhee watched him take a seat along the wall. “Junhui, what’s up?” she asked.

But he still didn’t say anything. He just smiled up at her, glowing with the sun in the background. He patted the ground next to him. “Sit,” he said gently.

Always feeling her skin tingle when he was being cute, Baekhee joined him. Parts of the balcony railing stopped the light from blinding her, letting Baekhee appreciate the sunset. She let out a sigh and leaned her head on her boyfriend’s shoulder. “It’s so pretty out here.”

Even with what he was about to say, she made him smile. Turning a bit, he said, “Yeah, you are.” He kissed the top of her head before falling silent.

They both sat there as the light shined from the horizon. Everything was golden and now it was just Junhui trying to find the right way to say this. He just had to tell her.

“I’m dying, Baekhee.”

Shaken out of the silence, she laughed and looked over to find his still smiling face. “What the hell, baby. What kind of a joke is that?”

He let out a deep breath, but he continued to smile at her. “It’s not a joke,” he said simply.

Unable to read this weird expression of his, Baekhee leaned her head forward and tried to get him to break character. “Junhui, you are so dumb. I seriously don’t get your jokes sometimes.”

He couldn’t tell whether he should’ve been more upset that she wasn’t taking him seriously, but he was just grateful to have Baekhee, someone who could smile through so many things. Biting his upper lip, he started to tear up a bit, but kept that grin. “I’m not joking, baby,” he said, his voice now shaking.

Still confused, it wasn’t until now did she see the pinkness in his gaze. Baekhee stared into his sad, loving eyes and felt this huge wave of fear flush over her. It was a feeling she had never experienced with Junhui before, and it scared her. “Junhui, seriously this isn’t funny.”

“Baekhee, I’m dying,” he repeated, and this time she could hear it in his voice. He was serious.

Baekhee’s body went cold. She gazed deeper into Junhui’s eyes and saw that he wasn’t lying. That playful shimmer that showed up when he was messing around...wasn’t there. So utterly confused, she could only whisper, “What?”

Seeing that she was starting to catch on, Junhui oddly chuckled, as if the ridiculousness of what he was about to say was laughable. He gazed out at the sunset as she stared at the side of his somber, smiling face. “I was in the studio last week when I fell and hit my head.”

“You hit your head?” Baekhee said with concern, seeing that she hadn’t heard about this. It freaked her out even more since Junhui normally told her everything.

Not turning to look at her, he went on. “I fell and kind of passed out, so they took me to the doctor cause they thought it was a concussion.” She listened as she heard her boyfriend’s voice start to shake. Baekhee got teary eyed just from how scared he sounded. She knew he was trying to keep it together, but there was very little he could hide from her. Unfortunately, this was something he managed to keep secret. “They took a few X-rays and sent me on my way.”

The first tear escaped his right eye as he continued to tell her. Blinking, he swallowed hard. “Uhh,” he struggled to say, fiddling with his hands. “They called me back the next day and told me I didn’t have a concussion, but they did find something else on my scans. Or really, they found a lot of things.”

Baekhee felt her heart cracking as he kept talking. Finally looking over to see her troubled expression, Junhui gave a weak laugh. Meeting her gaze, he whispered, “I’m sick, baby.”

hung open as she felt her cheeks get weak. Her whole body crumbled as she heard those words. “It’s stage four cancer,” he told her. “And there’s not much they can do.”

Feeling all of the fear that her body could physically force upon her, she finally managed to choke, “What?”

Seeing her already starting to fall apart, Junhui took his arm and wrapped it around her. Squeezing her close, he tried to hold back his tears. “They want to start chemo, but it’s probably not going to help much.”

She could feel his heart beating just as fast as hers. “They say I have three months, baby.”

There was a pause as so many things went through her head. All of a sudden, she got flashbacks to every beautiful moment she’d had with this boy she loved so much. She could see his smiling face from the first day they noticed each other. She could taste his lips against hers from the first time it happened in the rain to just a few minutes ago. She could smell just how bad the apartment stunk when they first moved in. She could hear all of the times he called for her to wake up in the morning when she’d overslept. She could imagine all of the things they did together, because they did everything together...except dance. Baekhee could remember every single time he had asked her to dance with him and every single time she had said no. All of those goofy smiles. All of those mesmerizing stares. All of those heart racing moments were hitting her in every painful way.

But as she was sitting there, washed in pain, she said in her crying voice, “You went to the doctor’s without me?”

And with that, Junhui broke down into tears. Shaking, both of them cried in their heart broken embrace. She drenched his shirt in her tears and he soaked her hair with his. As much as he tried to keep it together, Junhui couldn’t. “I’m sorry, baby,” he cried out.

But she was a blubbering mess. Everything hurt. She didn’t know what to do. And the only person who could help her...was dying.

“I’m sorry, too.”

Monitors gently beeping in the background, she stepped into the hospital room to find Junhui sleeping like usual. Smiling through her always quivering lips, she quietly closed the door behind her, hoping that he didn’t wake up. For the past two and a half months, she’d come here instead of home after work. And as she stepped closer, Baekhee felt her heart soar out of her chest. Junhui had been in so much pain from all of the chemo, but nothing was helping and his time was running out. All it had done was get rid of his beautiful hair. But she didn’t mind that part. He looked just as good bald.

Always finding it hard to see him in this sickness, Baekhee held back from crying. At some point, they both realized tears weren’t helpful. They were just inevitable. Staring at the boy she would only get to love for a little longer, she tried her best not to lose it. The past two months were filled with painful coping and reminiscing. It was all too much, but the worst came when Junhui had to stop dancing. Baekhee would never forget the looks on all of his students’ faces when he had told them. It was horrifying and she had to step out of the room. Everything was heartbreaking, but she couldn’t leave his side.

Through it all, she was there to see every moment he could still smile, always fearing that it could be the last. Illness changes people and Baekhee was scared that she would lose her Junhui even before he was gone. Honestly, she wasn’t sure which would’ve been harder. But through everything, Junhui still stayed his fun-loving self. He never let Baekhee feel bad or let her think she’d be alone after he was gone. As much as he was trying to stay alive for himself, he wanted to live to be with her, maybe even more so.

For a second, Baekhee just stood there and watched her beautiful boyfriend sleep. Slowly, she took off her backpack and clutched it in her hand. Taking a deep breath, she gently sat down next to him. Part of her wanted to let him keep sleeping, but another part feared that he would never wake up.

Thankfully, he was still with her. She could feel his fingers twitch as she put her hand on top of his. Letting out a sigh of relief, Baekhee smiled as her vision started to blur. Gently shaking him, she whispered, “Junhui.”

Slowly, he came to. Opening his eyes, he twisted over to find her. “Hmm.”

She smiled a little bigger and let out a quivering breath. “Hey baby.”

As hard as it was, Junhui turned fully to face her. The radiation had done things to his muscles that neither of them could’ve imagined. Still, he smiled. “Hey baby.”

His voice was so soft but it made her chuckle. She gripped his hand a little tighter before she lifted up her backpack. “How was your day?” she asked.

“Oh, you know, the usual,” he said softly. “No cute nurses today, sadly.”

“Aww, really?” she said, sharing his disappointment.

He slowly shook his head. “Like usual, you’re the cutest person I’ve seen all day.”

Feeling her heart crack just a little more, Baekhee grinned at him. She couldn’t contain how much this boy made her feel, and as the months had gone by, she’d thought more and more about how beautiful he had made her life. He’d spent so much of that time reminding her that she’d done the same for him, but there had always been something that she didn’t fulfill.

“I have a surprise for you,” she told him as she reached into her backpack.

“Really?” he said excitedly, craning his neck out as much as he could.

Baekhee nodded and pulled out a small, portable speaker. Placing it on his bedside table, she pulled out her phone, connected them, and hit play. Trying to keep herself together, she stood up and faced him. Holding out her hand, she said in a quivering voice, “Dance with me.”

In awe by just how much he loved her, Junhui felt tears building up. Ever since the day he fell in love with her, he’d been waiting to hear those words. But this time around, he couldn’t do what he’d always wanted, which broke his heart a little more. “Baby, I can’t,” he said, a smile on his face but he was clearly starting to cry.

Which made Baekhee start to cry. Shaking in her shoes, she refused to take the answer that she’d given him so many times. “Please,” she said past her tears. Holding her hand out as steady as she could, she whispered, “Please, just one last dance.”

Smiling from ear to ear, through the streams on his cheeks, Junhui chuckled. “How can our first dance be our last?”

Wiping her face, Baekhee quickly took his hand. “Please just dance with me before I really fall apart,” she laughed.

And Junhui knew that he couldn’t say no to such a request. She came over to the side of his bed and held him steady. Helping him pull his legs around the bed, it took some effort until he was even sitting. Smiling at each other in the process, Junhui told her, “You know I don’t dance anymore.”

Thinking back to all of the times she said something so similar to him, Baekhee helped him get to his feet. “There’s a first…” Staring into his loving eyes, she choked up. “...and a last...time for everything.”

Junhui didn’t argue any further. This was the first time he’d been on his feet in a while, but he felt weightless with Baekhee there to support him. Holding him in her arms, she rocked back and forth to the beat of the music. Neither of them paid attention to what song was playing. All they were doing was falling more and more in love, as people usually do when they dance together for the first time.

Embracing him like she never had before, Baekhee cried into his chest, wishing that her stupid self hadn’t refused to dance all of those times. But Junhui didn’t care about that. He was just so glad that he didn’t leave before she even got one dance, even if it was his last.

Crying and smiling in her hair, Junhui whispered, “You’ve made me very happy, you know that?”

Doing just the same, Baekhee knew nobody on this planet could replace the person who had made her the happiest. Trying her best, she tilted her head up and smiled back at him. “That’s all I can hope to have done.