Everyone has potential and at least one gift. Kaede did not know how the leaflet she received before entering Chatelet station would change her life.

If playing games on her PlayStation appeased her mind dancing a relaxed her body. The woman no longer had Joseph for guidance daily. Kaede walked alone; the last time she saw him after her dispute with Dominque, Joseph asked her if she had a plan B, as usual, she did not seize the meaning. At this instant, all Kaede planned to do was master the routine Dyan taught her.

"Alright, guys, take it from the top."

The Floor was where Kaede went twice a week instead of going to the gym. She sweated just as much in a more inviting environment. In this course, no one cared whether you wore the latest Nike outfit, how toned your arms, or how bubbly your jelly was. What mattered to Dyan, the instructor, was how one moved and embraced the music.

Dyan was the best dancer Kaede ever met. She comforted the class by saying that dance was a universal language where individuals reunited. Even the stiffer bodies could dance if they had a love for music.

Kaede was of the stiff lot with no coordination. Some even joked about how it was the first time of their existence; they met a black woman with no rhythm. Kaede didn't give up, she rehearsed relentlessly, and a year later, she was one of the best.

"Will, stop the music, please. Alright, as you know, I'm seven months pregnant, and I'm getting tired. Now I didn't want the course to stop, so I found a replacement who I am excited to introduce to you tonight. He's extremely talented, he's someone who practiced a lot of sports at a professional level, and he danced, popped, and locked. He went contemporary, he tangoed, and then he danced back to hip hop. He is my mentor."

The room buzzed. Everyone wondered who could replace Dyan and if the person had her level. Dyan was on a pedestal, so high no one saw a ladder long enough to reach her.

A quick knock on the door interrupted the agitation.

"Come in."

Kaede almost choked on her water she drank as she watched Dominque walk inside.

"Okay, let me present to you my big brother, Dominque. Before you ask, we have the same mom and dad, and no, none had a side dish."

Used to having people gasp about the fact she looked mixed, and her brother appeared to be a hundred percent caucasian, Dyan went ahead of eventual rumors.

"This guy taught me almost everything about music and dance. I'm happy to know that you are all in his care. He is your progress guaranteed."

Kaede wanted to find a hole to hibernate. She ducked her head and went to hide behind Nathan's stock-built body.

Dominique clapped, "okay, I imagine Dyan went through everything. So I won't talk a lot. I'll demonstrate my moves and after you can show me yours. It seems like a good compromise."

Kaede poked her head out from Nathan's back. Dominque's words piqued her interest.

He turned his head in Will's direction, who switched on the music. Young Joc's voice echoed with It's Going Down.

Dominque licked his lips, tugged on his sweatpants hem, and began. After a minute, whistles replaced the skeptical whispers. Half of the audience died when he lifted his t-shirt in a moment that exposed hard-knock honey tanned abs and the tats that coated them.

"I think I'm going to have a nose bleed," Kaede heard someone say.

"I think I just wet myself," another replied.

Kaede wondered when did women become so thirsty?

In books, women were always innocent until a man came to enlighten them for better or worse. In life, they all nourished fantasies. The rich man reigned on top of the fantasy stats, but the bad boy still trended.

Kaede didn't understand why some women would consciously sign up for heartbreak. As she watched Dominque, she refuted the theory once more.

One did not need to see it twice to acknowledge the man could dance. When he stopped, Kaede knew Dominque conquered The Floor. Kaede, who thought she could be carefree during her dance classes, found herself in Stress Ville.

"Alright, now it's your turn."

Dyan turned, "Will, can you play our favorite Stallion again. Kaede panicked and prayed Dominque would not walk through the aisles as he did right then.

Shit, thought Kaede.

It was one of those moments where one wondered why the whole cosmos was against them.

When Dominque got to her line, he stopped. He stood legs apart, folded his arms, and watched like a drill sergeant. Kaede did not need to look to know the man smirked. He went back to the front, where he whispered something in his sister's ear. All Kaede saw was Dyan nod before stopping the music, "alright guys, formation."

Kaede glared from behind Nathan's back. It was a smart move on the man's behalf. Having the dancers perform in little groups allowed them to see how they executed the routine and the quirks to correct.

For Kaede, it was Dominque's ploy to have a clear shot view of her moves.

Tequila ran to Kaede, their dance steps synchronized well. And the two always got Dyan thumbs up. Kaede trusted her partner, who had more experience and the dance sensitivity of a future dance instructor.

Like many, Tequilla proved, there was no particular passport needed to master Hip Hop's art. The name given by an alcoholic mother was now a signature that drove the twenty-year-old to push her limits to succeed.

"We're going to knock them dead," Tequila said with her usual enthusiasm.

Kaede gave a weak smile and hoped they would.

All the groups did the rot they worked on before Dominque's arrival. Kaede delayed and regretted as she and Tequilla were the last to pass under Dominque's critical eyes.

Queen B's voice echoed to sting the class's ears while the girls stung their eyes with their Savage routine. The facial expressions were those of warriors, Kaede's focused as she danced as though her life depended on it, not wanting Dominque's input with corrections as he did with every group before them.

"Wow, that girl can dance," Dominque said while his eyes followed Tequilla.

"Yeah, Tequilla wants to become a pro. She has her crew."

"And that one?" Dominque asked, holding back Kaede's name.

"She's the miracle; I swear, when she arrived, I was like damn girl, you are stiffer than a mummy."

"How long has she been coming?"

"A year, I think, and she's almost as good as Tequilla."

Dominque continued to watch, following every one of Kaede's steps in her baggy sweat pants crop sweatshirt, which revealed what Dominque thought were tattoos on her ribs.

If Kaede wanted the man to stop chasing her, she once again went about it the wrong way as the rocking movements of her hips spellbound Dominque. The woman had no idea what the man envisioned.

Dominque convinced himself he was not a pervert but a man enticed by anything sensual, and one could not find anything more seductive than dance.

Though at the time, Dominque believed he and Hye Ju were the perfect matches, dancing was the field where the couple unsynchronized.

Hye Ju was an excellent dancer, but her rhythm didn't coordinate with Dominque's. When they danced together, people only saw smoke, but the man knew the truth.

Dominque believed a couple connected through the art of dance by understanding and anticipating each other's steps were soulmates.

No one knew about the man's inner Disney Princess, who hoped to meet an exceptional someone who would accept to walk the road of life with him just like his mother did with his father.

"Well, well, I think I've found my assistants."

Tequilla whistled and clapped with joy while Kaede went straight to the back.

"Kaede."

Kaede froze, and so did everyone else who wondered how the man knew her name.

"Please stay in the front where I can see you."

Kaede did as asked while muttering under her breath and the very amused stare of the new instructor.

"Okay, now the introductions are done; let's take it from the top. Will music please," Dyan said with a broad smile and went to sit down. Dominque's presence reassured Dyan. Though they had family members everywhere like a mafia branch, the woman was glad that her big brother came back at a crucial moment of her existence.

Dominque left without a word four years before. Even if Dyan knew the reasons, she found her brother's decision rash. She thought Dominque fled like a coward.

Now Dyan was pregnant; she saw things in a different light. The mother-to-be understood the cataclysmic shock Hye Ju caused.

Dyan watched Dominque take over; he still had that poised teacher-like stance in him and a keen eye for scouting talent.

Lift, one, two three, and throwback."

"Don't push it," Kaede whispered behind gritted teeth to the man who gravitated around her. Dominque winked and moved on to the next row.

For the first time since she joined the class, Kaede watched the clock. Every tick brought the woman closer to liberation. Dominque's presence felt like a life sentence in purgatory for Kaede, who had more than enough of the man invading every inch of her life.

When the lesson finished, all Kaede wished was to bolt out.