Don't Love Me, I'm Straight

Chapter 14

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

Third Person POV

The visit of Boat helped to lighten Poom's spirits and he was sorry to see Boat go later in the evening but both of them promised each other that they were going to keep in constant touch.

Soon Saturday came and Poom was back to his full time work routine. He followed the Saturday routine of his boss where he waited for his boss to come down for breakfast at around nine. He served him breakfast and cleared away the dishes after. Then while Up watched the weekend news in the living room, Poom went upstairs to tidy his room by making his bed and gathering his clothes to be laundered by one of the housemaids.

He ran errands for his boss, usually to the pharmacy, and if the boss fancied a haircut, Poom drove him to the exclusive barbershop downtown which catered only to the city's elite. Poom would call hours ahead for an appointment with the barber.

On Sundays, Poom would spend a good chunk of the day with his boss at the country club where Up played golf.  Poom would follow him around with his golf caddy.

Poom was happy to finally be out of bed and working again.

On Monday morning, Poom was going up the stairs to wake up his boss but when he knocked and opened the door, he found Joss bending over the sleeping master and whispering to him to wake up.

Poom stepped back and quietly closed the door, trying to remember how the master had split his duties with Joss.

He went downstairs to the kitchen to gather the breakfast for his master.

"Why is there so much food on the food trolley?" Poom asked Mek who was placing what looked like breakfast for two on the breakfast trolley that Poom was going to push into the breakfast room for Up.

"The master instructed me last night to prepare breakfast for two this morning," Mek informed Poom.

"Did he invite a business associate to have breakfast with him at his residence?" Poom asked.

"He didn't say," Mek replied. "All he said was to prepare breakfast for two."

Poom washed his hands at the kitchen sink and then helped Mek to arrange the food on the breakfast trolley.

Poom gripped the handle of the trolley so hard that his knuckles shone white when he saw Joss seated beside the master at the breakfast table.

Poom drew in his breath before proceeding to the table and bowed low to Up saying, "Good morning, sir. Black coffee as usual, sir?"

"Yes, please, Poom, thank you," Up replied.

Then Up turned to Joss.

"What do you prefer to drink, Joss?" he asked Joss.

"Black tea as well, please, thank you," Joss replied. 

Poom's hands were shaking so bad that when he took out the coffee cups from the kitchen cabinet, he dropped one of them.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Poom said, rushing to open the narrow kitchen cabinet at the corner which housed the kitchen mop, kitchen broom and dust pan. "I will replace the broken cup with my salary, I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Up said and turned to Joss to ask him something that Poom didn't hear because he was busy picking up the broken pieces and placing them into the dust pan.

Poom gasped when he felt the sharp edge of one of the broken pieces pierce one of his fingers. He finished gathering the broken pieces and dropped them into the kitchen trash bin before tearing off a paper towel from the roll that stood on one corner of the kitchen counter. There was no time to take care of the wound right now because his master and Joss were waiting for their coffee.

He wrapped the paper towel around his bleeding finger before opening the kitchen cabinet to get another cup.

He carefully poured the black coffee from the electric kettle into each cup and then holding the edges of each saucer, carefully walked to the breakfast table and carefully set each one down beside his master and Joss.

"Why do you have a paper towel wrapped around your finger?" it was Joss who noticed Poom's finger.

Then Joss's eyes grew wide.

"You're bleeding!" Joss exclaimed getting up from his chair.

"No, no, no, I'm fine," Poom protested, backing away from Joss. "Finish your breakfast and I will take care of it properly after I have cleared the table."

"Are you sure?" Up asked, studying Poom's wounded finger.

"Yes, sir, it's no big deal," Poom said, quickly hiding his bleeding hand behind him to avoid further scrutiny from his boss.