Dad.

Circa 2010.

Exhausted, I skipped off my bus and headed home in a fast-paced walk. The sun was blazing hot, my forehead was starting to bead with sweat and I am nothing but eager to reach home fast so I could cool down and have a nice simple lunch with my dad. As I reached the gates to my house, I heard a distant thumping from inside. Like the bass of a very loud music. Without skipping a beat, I opened the gates and sprinted to the front door so I could see what's going on inside. True enough, 'Pump It' by The Black Eyed Peas was blasting on the stereo somewhere inside.

At the hallway, I slowed down and slumped my bag at a corner next to the piano and went deeper inside the house, towards the living room. I walked slowly, then I stopped. 

I can't believe what I'm seeing.

It has to be one of the most funniest, happiest, and the most heart-breaking scene that I've ever seen in my life.

It was my dad, dancing awkwardly to the beat as his moves are limited due to the effects of the medical treatment he recently received. He was diagnosed with Leukemia a few years back and it has worsened over the years and has reached to a point where his body parts are partially swollen and his joints could barely move. But that day, he tried to dance anyway because in his head, he thought, why stop dancing when you know you won't live long enough to dance again? I laughed but my eyes were already glimmering with tears but I held that in, careful not to ruin the moment for him. Instead of tearing up, I decided to join him. But little did I know that that dance was our last. Together, we chest pumped, did a stiff wave and sang the afternoon away, trying to forget the illness that has latched onto him and also our happiness. 

Dad, I miss you.

I love you.

Al-Fatihah.