Tears flowed like waterfalls when judges praised me. When I took the champions trophy in my hands, number one boldly written on it, I felt myself fortunate to have such supporting friends who always encouraged me to strive harder.

That's what I repeated in my short speech when the host planted a mic in my hands amidst the celebration. I quickly thanked everyone, and the stage was cleared soon as the next batch of finals was lined up.

My opponent, Tera, had vanished; I wanted to meet her as our battle was really amazing. I asked about her to her fans, but they were clueless. Unilke her, they congratulated me for the win and left the stadium.

I prepared myself as I sensed my friends running towards me. They threw me in the air after taking the trophy from me, and the cheers of "Boomer, Boomer!" started echoing.

"Why are you not using my real name?!" I yelled at them when they threw me up for the nth time.

"Shut up, and let us enjoy!" Rehman replied and told others to launch me directly in the space.

"It is enough now," Vibhan said.

My friends caught me and held me until I was no longer dizzy. Everyone congratulated me one by one, Akshay crushing my bones in happiness, and Axel filmed everything. Hriaan hugged me.

"Shorty, my best friend is dehydrated because of you," he said and pointed at Tejas, who still had his face covered with his cap.

I went to him and ducked my head low to peak a glance at him. His face was red, cheeks stained with tears. When his eyes met mine, I saw him being the cutest he had ever been.

I didn't tell him to remove his cap and wiped his tear-stained cheeks with my thumbs.

"Can I get a hug from my dance idol?" I asked him.

He pulled me closer, and I hugged him tightly. Feeling his warmth, I couldn't control it any longer and started crying myself.

"Congratulations, Hamster. I am really proud of you," he said, his voice getting sore.

"Please don't speak," I told him as his words sounded strained. "Why did you cry so much?"

He squeezed me. "These are happy tears, and they have a mind of their own. Don't blame me, and don't cry yourself."

"Don't blame me either. It is all because of you."

We looked at each other and chuckled. He wiped my tears and kissed me all over the face.

"How do you feel?" he asked me.

"I will feel very blessed if you congratulate me like this again," I said.

"I am talking about winning the championship," he said, amused, making me stick out my tongue in embarrassment.

He kissed my forehead, and I told him that the feeling of winning an international competition would actually take some time to sink in. He understood the feeling.

"You are exhausted, so let's rest. We have semi-finals in the evening," he suggested.

"I am actually not tired, but let's take a rest. I don't want to sabotage our team's performance," I said.

Our crew left the stadium, and before our semi-finals, we took an hour's break before we discussed our strategies. Three hours later, we were back in the dance arena, facing our rival crew from Malaysia.

"The Conquerors vs The Majestic, begins now!" the host announced and ran off the stage.

The Majestic had lots of female dancers, and it was a treat to watch them lead.

"Are you planning on joining them?" Tejas asked me when he saw me admiring our competitors with starry eyes.

"No, I am planning on making an all-girls crew and lead them like this," I replied.

"I will be the first one to join."

I narrowed my eyes. "You are a guy."

He shrugged. "So what? I have the privilege of being your boyfriend."

Our teammates scolded us when we started laughing.

"Are you guys on a date?" Hriaan asked us like a pissed-off parent. "If you aren't concerned, then at least act like it. Our fans will think that we are being careless."

Akshay smacked me behind the head. "Boom Boom Boomer, you are having a bad influence on TJ."

Tejas and I put our index fingers on our lips when Vibhan and Joy also scolded us for continuously snickering and distracting the whole team.

The Majestic finished their choreography, and we got into our positions. Tejas cued the music, and after everyone was ready, we began. Our teamwork had improved a lot, and we gave our best since the start.

Our choreography for this time was very demanding, but with everyone striving for the win, we performed without any goof-ups. I felt proud as I saw my trainees giving it their all as they danced in front of me.

Two and a half minutes later, we finished and got back into our side of the stage as the judges wrote down their reviews and scores. Meanwhile, the audience was going crazy to know the result as this semi-finals was really anticipated.

"I will be satisfied even if we lose," Joy said. "Reaching semi-finals is itself a big achievement for our newly formed crew, and we have performed our best till now."

"You are right, but losing is never a happy feeling. We may act like we are okay, but we will be sobbing like idiots if we lose here," Vibhan said seriously.

"Joy, we are not here to lose," Hriaan said with determination.

Tejas nodded. "If we draw out, be prepared for the battles. The opposite team are mostly breakdancing veterans. They know this game better than us."

Everyone agreed and got ready to participate in the dance battles as our heartbeats rose when the scores on the display screen started shuffling like a casino machine.

"Oh my god! We won by just a point!" Joy screamed in shock.

Everyone gave him stinky side-eyes as he was jumping in celebration after talking about being okay with losing. Surprisingly, even after winning the semi-finals, all of us were calm, except Joy of course.

Our fans cheered for us, and we shook hands with The Majestic. I told them how much I admired them, and they congratulated me for winning my solos. We clicked a lot of pictures with them before we got off the stage, the excitement settling down slowly.

"Hriaan bhaiyya, we will get a treat, right?" Ronit asked Hriaan, rubbing his hands together like a thief.

Hriaan looked at him as if Ronit had offended him.

"Should you even be asking that?" Hriaan complained. "We won't be having just a treat, but a blast tonight!"

Our crew jumped on Hriaan, hugging him and singing praises of him as we went to our hotel. Everyone was tired, but the thought of having a dance party dissolved the fatigue.

"Bhoomi Di, what will you wear tonight?" Ovi asked me excitedly.

My another female junior, Ina, rolled her eyes at the question.

"Ovi, that's so dumb of you," Ina said. "Of course, she will wear what TJ bhaiyya will choose for her."

After saying that, both girls high-fived and started laughing like donkeys. Meanwhile, Richa stared at us in disinterest.

"Girls, worry about yourselves," Richa said. "Bhoomi Didi already has a boyfriend, who has accepted her poor fashion sense. As for us, we need to be dolled up if we want to catch some sexy guys."

The girls nodded, and I looked at Richa with narrowed eyes.

"I have poor fashion sense?" I asked her. "Watch me tonight. I will be the only one shining."

Richa, Ovi, and Ina exchanged glances and started another marathon of laughter, their volume increasing whenever they glanced at me.

"Di, why don't you show us what you got before we decide if you will be the showstopper or not?" Ina suggested.

I proudly opened my suitcase and displayed the clothes I had brought after a heavy fight- I mean discussion with Jiya and Arushi.

My roommates checked each and every piece and rejected them. I guess it was because of generation gap. I told them that I wouldn't be sad as they were criticising my choice and adviced them to focus on their own wardrobe.

"Di, don't worry about us. Tonight, we will get your ready. But before that, select a dress from my collection," Ovi said and showed me her dresses.

Ina joined in, and Richa also put out her clothes on the bed for me to select from.

"Wow, you guys are really confident for wearing such risky dresses," I told them. "Is there nothing that will cover my butt?"

"Di, you are shorter than all of us," Richa said, making others laugh. "These dresses will cover more than your butt."

"Then what about the torso. Why are there so many openings in such small pieces?" I argued.

"I know what you are doing. You just don't want to wear these. Okay, we will buy a new dress for you, and you gotta wear it. If you won't, we will think that you don't love us," Richa threatened.

Ovi agreed strongly. "We won't hear no. Come on, girls, let's go shopping. Tonight, Bhoomi Di can't escape us."

Ina instantly grabbed their wallets, and the three of them ran out of the room. They met Ronit, Varun, Ijaz and Sam, and all juniors looked at me mischievously. The boys joined the girls in their plan and left me yelling at them to be careful outside. Fortunately, Hriaan, Akshay, and Vibhan were also going out with other guys from our crew, so they accompanied the kids.

"Hamster, you sure you want to go clubbing? You had a hectic day, why don't you rest?" Tejas asked me after he arrived, holding energy drinks in his hands.

I welcomed him inside, and he raised his eyebrows at the dresses spread out on the bed.

"You gonna wear these?" he asked in concern.

"You also don't find them appropriate, right?" I asked, telling him how the girls were teasing me non-stop.

He shook his head. "I am not talking about the clothes being appropriate or not. You can wear whatever you want. I am just worried about you freezing as Shanghai has very low temperature in the nights. Anyways, which one have you selected? I will wear the same colour, so we can twin."

I stared at him, and he tilted his head in confusion. I got up and checked if any of our teammates was coming. When I saw no one, I closed the door without locking it.

"Hamster, what are you doing?" Tejas asked.

I looked at him and grinned. "I don't want the kids to tease me again if they see us."

Tejas opened his mouth to ask what I meant, but I zoomed towards him and kissed him.

"I love you," I said. "Don't worry, I wasn't going to do anything."

He smirked. "I wouldn't have complained if you had done anything."

I pinched his cheek. "Getting naughty day by day, aren't you?"

He pecked my lips, and we drank our energy drinks before our small platoon arrived. The girls told Tejas to leave and not look for me later as they were going to give him a surprise. He acted like he didn't know what they were talking about and left after winking at me.

While the guys got ready to go clubbing, in our room, the girls started their experiment on me. Ina and Richa argued for most of the time, while Ovi helped me get dressed like a professional stylist. I was worried about the one-piece dress they had bought for me, but after wearing it, I felt amazing.

"Di, you look gorgeous. TJ bhaiyya will lose his heart after he sees you," Ovi said.

Richa butted in. "Lose his heart? He has already lost it. Now let me do her makeup."

"Don't overdo it," Ina adviced her strictly.

Richa huffed and did my makeup while Ovi and Ina got ready themselves. After Richa was done with me, she herself got ready, and we clicked hundreds of photos before we left our room.

Ina confirmed that the captains had already left, and we also made our way towards the club with Ronit and the boys.

"Di, you look amazing," Sam told me.

I thanked him. "You guys are praising me unnecessarily. All of you look dashing too."

The kids smiled at the compliment, and when we reached the club, we located our crew. I adviced the kids to not get drunk and avoid any trouble. They promised me, their faces going pale when they told me how Vibhan and Hriaan had already given them a strict warning.

They started dancing after getting fruit drinks, and I made my way towards where Tejas was. Even as a dancer, Tejas preferred staying back and observing his team. He was sitting on one of the lounge sofas, his eyes scanning the whole area like a hawk.

We were twinning even when he didn't know what I was going to wear.

(Bhoomi's dress👆🏽)

(Tejas's outfit👆🏽)

My smile got wider when his gaze landed on me, his head stopping its security camera movement.

"Alright, Shorty, you have come prepared to kill TJ tonight," Hriaan teased me. "Looking great."

"You too," I told him.

"But I look the best," Axel intervened as he arrived. "Small Bean, don't be jealous if TJ chooses me to dance with."

Hriaan liked his joke a lot, and both guys laughed like idiots. I scolded them in my mind for distracting me and continued on my way to my boyfriend when a pair of hands wrapped around my waist from behind.

"Why are you so beautiful, Hamster?" Tejas's voice landed in my ear, his warm breath fanning my face.

"Because of your love," I replied and looked up at him.

His soft gaze made the butterflies in my stomach have a rave party, and when his lips caressed my cheek, I closed my eyes.

"Wanna dance?" he asked.

I nodded, and he picked me up. Hriaan glared at Tejas, taunting him how he was being biased towards me. Axel consoled him, offering to be his dance partner.

We left them to fool around and got on the dance floor. The music was electronica, so we started robot dancing. Hriaan, being the self-proclaimed best robotic dancer, joined us, and soon, it became a competition.

One after another song, we tried to defeat each other, Axel and our teammates looking at us in disappointment. A very upbeat song started playing, and Akshay and I exchanged glances. We both started a freestyle popping duo performance, and to go against us, Shlok and Yasir volunteered.

We were having an all-out war, when Varun landed himself between us, breathing heavily. I was doing some very impressive moves when he stopped me, his ghost like expression scaring the shit out of me.

"Bhoomi Di, there's a huge problem!" he announced.

Akki and Tejas told Varun to calm down, while Hriaan asked him if the boys had again caused some trouble. He shook his head and looked at me seriously.

"Bhoomi Di, we need to go back to the dance arena asap. Tera has complained of the whole b-girl championships being rigged, and because of her, there are talks of your title being stripped from you," Varun said hastily.

Axel grabbed his shoulders. "What do you mean by stripping Small Bean's title?"

Varun replied, horrified. "They are going to take away Bhoomi Di's trophy."

Shock crossed my face. "What?!"