"She is alright. Now let us get the stone and the reward that Joseph offered," he looked at the group of watchmen in front of us.

All of them were shouting at the man who was holding 'Iris of hell. If the guy who held it was a candy, I am pretty sure that I can describe the watchmen as ants. I could hear a lot of 'how could he's, 'bastard's, 'traitor's and many other colorful words across the room but I honestly felt that Hermes was more suitable for those words because how could he simply trait someone like that?. The guy had helped us to get in and Hermes simply pushed him into trouble. However, I could not completely blame Hermes either because saving four thieves is definitely worthier than protecting one according to the rules about thievery that Mr. Doom had taught us.

Hermes pointed towards the small crowd and then he pointed at me, He closed his fingers and looked at door no.5.

"Why don't you take it?" I asked as all three of us tiptoed to the group of watchmen. The feeling of the pain that surged through me when I touched it was still fresh for me and I did not want to feel it again and moreover who knew that what was the next big secret that I would reveal due to the curse.

There are only a few things that can ruin you more than a rumour and they are truths about you.

"Because I don't want to," Hermes said in a duh tone and stuck a tongue at me. I made a mental note to talk with him about his unprofessional behaviour during a mission.

"You guys stop fighting and distract them, I will snatch it," Stella said and we nodded in agreement. Stella did a quick front handspring and moved away from both of us. She hid behind the statue of a woman holding a sword. Stella was a pro in acrobatics and I knew that she was the best option but I was also afraid of the truth that she would reveal.

Suddenly, Hermes broke a display case near him which contained the necklace that was also said to be cursed. I expected, maybe hoped, that it would turn Hermes into a squirrel or make him say one of his deepest secrets but nothing happened. It seemed that the cursing of the necklace was simply a rumor while the curse was as true as the Sun. There was a sudden alarm and the disturbing siren was accompanied by a lot of red lights on the ceiling. In a second, all the watchmen had their eyes on us.

"Two of them escaped already!" One of them shouted as they approached us slowly.

The man who held the stone was left behind on the ground. He looked devastated and massaged his forehead as he started getting up. Stella did a front cartwheel before she grabbed hold of the stone. She suddenly fell on the ground with a silent weep. She must have really felt it difficult to hold her scream but she did it for us. The watchman stood open-mouthed.

Hermes took something that looked like a bomb and started running around the room while laughing like an evil villain. He had the necklace in one of his hands and the bomb in the other. All the watchmen ran away from the room except the man near Stella. He walked towards Stella but before he could touch her, I kicked his leg and he fell on the ground. Hermes ran to the watchman and knelt beside him. He glared at me and asked if the watchman was okay.

I sat near Stella as Hermes continued to chitchat with his friend.

"Open your eyes, Rapunzel," I said.

"Move away from me. I do not want to see your face when I open my eyes. Say Hermes to stand in front of me," Stella said as she took deep breaths.

"Okay, move away Silly, she wants to see me when she opens her eyes," Hermes said as he dropped the necklace and the bomb.

"You idio-"

"Don't continue, it was just a dummy bomb," Hermes said and the watchman snickered.

"What dummy bomb?" Stella opened her eyes and met mine.

"I hate your Uncle," Her words pierced through my heart as I looked at her eyes. This was the biggest secret she was holding from me and she did not want me to know it at all. I could not understand why did she hate my uncle. He had looked after her as his own daughter and he never tried to separate her from her mother.

"Drama alert!" Hermes said in a high pitched voice.

Suddenly, a lot of watchmen started running towards us and we looked at each other baffled.

"CCTV camera?" Hermes said as he stood with open palms.

"Actually it must be my walkie-talkie, it was on," The watchman near us scratched the backside of his neck as Hermes glared at him.

The watchmen surrounded us immediately in a large circle and they started making the circle smaller until they were about a meter away from us. All four of us stood back to back with Stella's back behind me. Suddenly, Stella kicked his 'very very very vulnerable' part. She did an aerial cartwheel above him as he knelt down in pain. She started running around the room doing various gymnastic moves.

Does she really need to show off her skills at a time like this?

Out of about ten watchmen who had encircled us, all of them except two started chasing her and firing at her.

She stopped her show suddenly before shouting them to stop. All of them were puzzled due to the sudden unexpected outburst and they looked at her with wide open eyes. Suddenly Stella raised her hand that had the stone and all eyes fell on her hand. She looked at me and threw it at me. I dodged because I was afraid to go through that pain, again. I hoped that Hermes would catch it but he too dodged and one of the watchmen who was pointing their gun at us caught it. I did not know that what was that valuable secret that Hermes was holding from us but then again there are no secrets that aren't valuable.

The man who caught the stone writhed in pain as the other man knelt beside him.

"I wear weekday underwears," The man said as soon as he opened his eyes.

"What are you saying, Sam? Why?" The man who knelt beside him asked as the whole room continued in the silent mode.

"Because my mother makes me wear it, Rahul!" Sam said with a raised voice.

"But you said that you were living with your girlfriends, were you lying?" Rahul frowned.

"Yes," Inner corners of his eyebrows were drawn up.

"So where are you living?" A watchman who was standing in front of Stella asked.

"I am living at my parent's house with my parents, Nina, Georgia, Clara and Viola."

"So your girlfriends and your parents are in the same house?" The watchman who was standing beside us asked.

"No!"His lips quivered as he told yet another truth.

"You said that Nina, Georgia, Clara and Viola are your girlfriends, who are they really?" Another watchman asked.

"They are my cats." The man's eyes filled with tears and I sympathized with him as I knew the way someone would feel when honesty invites trouble.

Hermes started laughing loudly as the honest man covered his face and broke into sobs. All the watchmen pointed their guns at Hermes as he cackled. He raised his hands when he saw the guns but he could not control his laughter. The watchman beside us also started laughing.

"Can you believe that all four of his girlfriends are actually his cats," I could not help but smile when Rahul said it and started laughing.

In a moment, the whole room was filled with different kinds of laughing from chuckling to chortling.

"I will use a smoke bomb now, you have to snatch the stone," Hermes whispered to me. I did not have time to protest as he used it quickly. I grabbed the stone and ran with my eyes closed. I waited for the pain to come as I ran without opening my eyes but the pain never came.

Suddenly my body crashed on somebody and I was about to open my eyes but I forced it to say closed when I heard an 'Ouch' from Hermes. I did not want to share any of my secrets but more importantly, I did not want to disclose any more of my secrets to him.

"Silly, why are you not opening your eyes? are you afraid that you will admit your crush on me?"

"I would have been afraid if I had a crush on you but I do not, Hermit!"

"Ouch! That hurt my ego but both of us know that the whole female population of the thieves in Yoyomia is in love with me,"

"Not me, jerk!"

"Oh, you are feistier than Rihanna. I like it but if what you said is true why don't you open your eyes?"

"I just won't" I crossed my arms. I was afraid of being caught by the watchmen but somewhere deep inside I felt that Hermes would never let that happen. After all, he was the best thief in our country and I knew that he would not leave us behind.

"Oh, you leave me no choice," I felt his arms on my waist and I was dropped on his shoulder. I did not resist. He started running fast..

I heard him shout at someone to follow us quickly and then he told the person to open Petunia, his Robotic car. He kept me on a seat and I did not still open my eyes.

"Are you going to stay like that forever?" I heard Stella's sound beside me and I was relieved. I smiled but I was still not ready to open my eyes because I was afraid of the biggest secret that I was keeping from her. The biggest secret that she had kept from me was pretty hurtful to me and I was afraid how mine would be to her. I had never thought about it and neither had I thought about the biggest secret that I was keeping from Rihanna and it was a disaster when I revealed about my crush on her brother.

"Why is she not opening her eyes?" I recognized the watchman's voice.

"Long story short, she has a lot of dirty secrets that she is afraid of revealing," Hermes said. I could imagine the gross smirk on his face.

"He came with us!"

"Yeah, he is my best buddy and partner in crimes, literally"

"Then why did you ask us to snatch that stone?"

"Because I love knowing your secrets,"

His words made me clench my fist. My heart started beating fastly and I tried to kick him but he just kept laughing and I gave up. I heard a slapping sound before his laughing stopped and a smile spread on my face as I thanked the Almighty for giving Stella to me.

"I want that watchman to be in front of me,"

"Okay, now open your eyes," I heard Stella's voice.

I did not know about the secret that I would disclose to him but I was pretty sure that it was better than those I would have to disclose to Hermes or Stella so I opened my eyes. He had an amused smile on his face. He stroked his tie and raised one of his eyebrows.

"My name is Lilly West," I disclosed my secret and I was pretty relieved. I fidgeted on my seat as I felt uncomfortable about the fact that it was the second person knowing my real identity on the same night.

He parted his lips before sitting straight and extending his hand.

"Hello Lilly, my name is Mathew Andrews, 6 feet tall, works... I mean... I worked as a watchman in the National Museum and single," Mathews said and winked at me.

Why me?!