A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Poom's POV

I was gently shaken awake by Mek.

"I brought you some healing food," he said.

I sat up in bed and squinted up at him.

"What time is it?" I asked, feeling very disoriented.

"It's eight in the evening. You slept for ten hours," he informed me. "You've had nothing to eat since you got back from your village. Here eat this rice porridge with roasted seaweed flakes and crispy tofu nuggets. The zinc in the seaweed flakes will help to heal you and boost your immune system."

He tried to feed me but I took the soup spoon from him.

"Thank you but I'm strong enough to feed myself." I said.

"I will come back in a few minutes to check on you," he said but before he could leave the room I remembered something.

"P'Mek," I said, making him pause in the doorway. "How much do I owe you for the hospital bills. I will set the money aside for you when I receive my salary this month."

"I didn't pay your hospital bills," Mek informed me. "The boss did."

"Oh shit, I will have to tell him to take it away from my salary before he makes out his check," I said, feeling anxious about being indebted to the master.

"Hey, P'Mek, tomorrow don't be the one to serve breakfast to the master and Joss," I said. "I will be the one to push the breakfast trolley to the breakfast room. I can't miss a day's work when I'm already indebted so much to him."

"Are you sure that you will be strong enough to go back to work tomorrow?" Mek had a doubtful expression on his face. "The master brought you back here not to work but to recover from your infection."

"I will make myself feel strong enough to work," I responded. "I cannot afford to miss a day's work. I have to pay back the hospital bills that he paid for."

Mek left the room without a word.

After I finished eating the healing rice porridge with roasted seaweed flakes and crispy tofu nuggets, I stood up from my bed and carried out the empty bowl and soup spoon to the kitchen.

I was lucky that Mek was there to catch me when I felt my knees suddenly give way and almost landed on the kitchen floor.

"You hard headed misguided idiot," he scolded me as he assisted me back to my room. "I'm not letting you go back to work tomorrow. You're staying in your bed to rest the whole day tomorrow. After tomorrow, we'll see if you have recovered enough strength to go back to work."

Even though I had slept for ten hours earlier, I found myself feeling drowsy again and before I knew it I was out like a light.

Because I had an early night, I found myself awake at the crack of dawn.

I went to the bathroom and gave myself a much needed shower and oral care.

After I changed into fresh clothes and combed my hair in place, I ventured into the kitchen.

Mek was already there preparing ingredients for whatever breakfast he was planning to fix for the master and Joss.

He looked up from his task when he saw me approaching.

"You're supposed to be in bed resting," he scolded me.

"No," I responded stubbornly, "I'm supposed to be here in the kitchen helping you to make breakfast for the master and Joss which I will place on the breakfast trolley to bring to the breakfast room."

Mek could only shake his head in resignation to my determination.

Soon I was helping Mek place the large platter of vanilla pancakes drizzled with thick maple syrup and another platter of crispy bacon strips and scrambled eggs on to the breakfast trolley.

I bowed to the master and to Joss as I pushed the trolley into the breakfast room.

"Where is Mek?" the master demanded in an angry voice.

I had no chance to answer. I felt the room going around in a dizzying circle before I lost consciousness.

I heard the raised angry voice of the master and a penitent sounding Mek in my room when I regained consciousness.

I tried to sit up while saying, "It's not Mek's fault, sir. I insisted on going back to work today because I told him that I didn't want to miss a day's work after he told me that it wasn't him who paid my hospital bills."

The master wagged his index finger angrily in my face.

"You," he said in an ominous tone, "you are going to do as I say. You are going to stay in your room and you will allow Mek to care for you until he sees that you are strong enough to get up from your bed. Have I made myself clear?"

I could only nod my head. I got too scared to open my mouth. The master had been very kind and gentle to me yesterday and now suddenly he looked like he was ready to kill me.

Was it possible that the master had a Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde personality?