"Oh my God!" I squealed. I was so shocked I couldn't even get up. "Oh my gosh. Andrew, we won!"

Andrew had the same look on his face and he too was saying something along the lines of 'oh my gosh' and 'oh my God.' He got up, pulled me up, and gave me the biggest hug. I hugged him back tightly. He released me and dropped his mouth to my ear.

"I can't believe this, Keighlah!" He screamed into my ear to be heard over the sound of the crowd and our song playing in the background. Angela was sitting somewhere and she ran up to us, giving both of us a hug. "Congratulations!"

As Andrew and I walked towards the stage, Ariana popped out of her aisle, giving us another hug and congratulated us.

"Thank you!" I cried. We reached the stage and walked up. Dua handed us the award.

"Congratulations!" She hugged us both.

"Thank you so much," Andrew replied. We went up to the podium. The VMA was in my hand and I couldn't believe that I was holding it. I stood in front of the mic and looked at the award.

"Wow," I said and the whole crowd started cheering. I started laughing and Andrew placed a hand on my back. If he didn't, I'd probably faint.

"I- I don't know what to say, I'm-" I started crying once more. "I'm just so, so delighted, we both are, that we actually won an award. I'm thankful, and we would like to thank-" the crowd went crazy once more.

"Our fans!" Andrew intervened, leaning his head towards the mic. "Without them, we wouldn't be winning this. Without our team, we wouldn't be standing here. We would like to thank Angela, Steve, Rohan," he went on to say a few more names who were on our management team. "I'd like to thank our parents. Mom, if you're watching this. We did it, ma."

"And can I just say one more thing," I said. "To all my fellow POCs out there, y'all can do it."

The crowd cheered.

"Black, Asian, Hispanic," I said, counting them on my fingers, "everyone, y'all can do it! In a white dominated industry, you all can make it through and win anything you want to. I love you all!"

"And to all my POC fans, and my white fans," I continued, "without you, we wouldn't be standing here." I pointed at the floor, looking around the crowd. "Thank you," I gave a big smile and ended my speech.

And with that, we waved at the audience and walked back to our seats.

"From where did that come from?" Andrew murmured from behind me. I shrugged at him.

We sat down. Andrew and I were looking so very meticulously at the award that I almost missed the voice that spoke from beside me.

"That was a very powerful speech," he said, the man sitting beside me. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed him before. I stopped for a second when I looked at his face.

"Thank you." I smiled at him.

"And congratulations on the win!" He said.

I grinned at him. "Thanks again!"

Andrew nodded at him.

He smiled back. His blonde hair almost looked the same colour as my dress. "I'm Felix, by the way." He extended his hand. "Felix Williams."

"Felix Williams, hi," I shook his hand. "I know you."

"Yes, you might know me," he had a very confident smile. "I'm also a singer. Nice to meet you, Keighlah."

I smiled at him. He had beautiful green eyes. "Oh, this is Andrew. The better half of us." I chuckled at my own joke.

Before Andrew could reply with something witty, Felix said, "I'm sure that's not true. Have you even looked at yourself. You're gorgeous."

I blushed a little. Well, that was quick. "Oh, I'm not that pretty."

I turned towards Andrew to see that he had a weird expression on his face, he almost looked disturbed. He was looking very seriously at Felix. I cocked my head on one side.

"Andrew?" I said.

"Huh?" He looked me with a start.

"What's up?" I asked him curiously.

"Nothing," he got up and reached for my hand. "Come on, we have to get to backstage."

His sudden change in mood shocked me but I didn't say anything. After saying a small 'see you later' to Felix and handing our award to Angela, we slowly slipped into the backstage.

"Andy, what happened?" I asked once more.

"Nothing," he murmured.

"Obviously it's something. What is it?"

"I said nothing, Keighlah," he suddenly snapped at me, then sighed. "Look, it's- I'm just nervous about the performance."

Obviously I wasn't buying that excuse, but I let it be. Whatever it was, it could wait until after the performance.

We had to change our clothes for the performance. I was now wearing a silver dress which had a slit upto my thigh. My black hair was open and my make up was silvery now. Andrew had changed into a silver frilly suit and pants. He still wouldn't talk to me.

We walked up to the middle of the stage. The curtains were shut. I turned to him. "Best of luck."

He sighed and gave me a hug. "Same to you. This is going to be good." I gave him a smile and sat down in front of the harp. He took his place in front of the mic stand. He wasn't playing anything today. The other musicians were present in the shadows.

My heart started beating faster as the host announced our name, and the curtains were drawn.

Oh God. Everybody was looking at me.

I turned towards Andrew with panicked eyes. He gave me a reassuring nod. I closed my eyes and started playing the first note.

We were playing one of our hit songs, which was a soft ballad. I started singing.

My, my, my,
I lose my breath,
For you, but you,
Never said, I love you

Andrew joined in.

I see you, slipping away,
My mind is,
Swirling with thoughts that I'm,
Never gonna see you again,
And I can't bear it

We were beautifully singing and harmonising. We hit the second chorus and I got up from my chair and walked towards Andrew with my mic, just as we'd planned. I put my hand around his neck and he placed his on my back and we did a few slow dance steps, all the while singing.

Everything was going as planned. We hadn't missed a single beat or tune. As the song ended, we both sat down on our knees and faced each other, our heads touching and our hands grasping. The song ended and we stayed like that for a while. When the crowd started cheering, we smiled at each other and stood up. We bowed and the curtains closed.

I faced Andrew. "That was awesome!" I clapped. He laughed and gave me a bear hug.

We slowly slipped back into our seats.

"That was really good," Felix said the minute we sat down.

Andrew took my hand and wrapped his fingers around mine possessively. "We make a good team, don't we?" He said, looking straight at Felix with his chin high and with this weird smug attitude.

Felix chuckled. "You sure do."

I narrowed my eyes at Andrew, discreetly so that Felix doesn't see. "What are you doing?"

"What? Nothing," he replied to me in the most innocent way.

"Andrew. . .what's up with you-"

He shushed me. "Let me watch the show."

I didn't say anything after that, but I made up my mind that I would ask him what's going on the minute we get home.

The award show went on normally. Conversation flowed between me and Andrew and Felix, although he seemed to be more keen in talking with me than Andrew. We even exchanged numbers, only because maybe I'd want to collab with him sometime.

We ended up winning another award for best pop single duo/group. It was absolutely surreal. Andrew gave the acceptance speech this time.

Gradually the evening came to an end and slowly everyone started going to their homes or some afterparty. I was excited because Andrew and I were having an afterparty in our house, and I planned on getting proper drunk.

•••

Next chapter - next Saturday at 10pm IST.