When The Rich Son Falls

Seven

Topher let go of her hands and blinked in disbelief for a second as his mind processed that information. He turned his head to see that James was carrying the empty box and walking towards the door that was just on the side of the front desk.

“Is that right?” Topher muttered to himself, quickly coming up with a way of approaching the situation. Just before the so-called manager could reach the door, Topher stepped in front of him and flashed a bright smile. “Hello, there, James!” he very enthusiastically greeted. “Thank you for bringing my bags up last night. If you’d told me you weren’t a bellhop, I really wouldn’t have treated you like that.”

James looked unamused as he kept on a straight face. “You didn’t let me get a word in. How could I have told you?”

“Right, sorry,” Topher sheepishly chuckled to lighten the situation, “I was in a hurry. So, anyway, about this long-term stay… I really need it, you know?”

“No.” The way James just automatically replied that with a flat affect made Topher do a double take.

“Come on, now,” he said, keeping on his smile although it took him much more effort this time, “I’ve already apologized sincerely, and of course, I will continue to show how sorry I am for my extremely rude and unacceptable behavior.”

“The hotel is already completely booked next week. You can choose to stay in the closet or find another hotel.”

“I’ve never ever hidden in a closet. Even metaphorically,” Topher replied with a hint of disgust. “As for finding another hotel, as you can see, I'm…” he leaned closer and said in a whisper, “I’m kind of someone important, so I can't go around looking for hotels in broad daylight, and I can’t really just say my name to people over the phone—”

James sighed and lightly pushed him to the side with the box he was carrying. "I don't know who you are, and we don't give any special treatment here,” he stated as he placed the box in front of the door so he could open it.

"You don’t know who I am?” Topher bellowed. “I call bull! Even Mandy knows who I am!"

James simply ignored him and proceeded to push the box inside the room, while Mandy leaned into Topher. "He doesn't have TV and he doesn't care about celebrity news,” she explained to him in a whisper.

"You must've at least seen my photo with the cast of Marvel circulating twitter!” Topher said loud enough for James to hear from inside the room. The door opened once more and out the manager stepped, sighing as he leaned a shoulder on the doorway and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Twitter. The one like that f*******: thing?"

Topher’s eyes went wide in his horror. "That f*******: thing?” he asked bewilderedly to Mandy. “How old is this guy?"

James pointed at Mandy and commanded, "Don't say a wo—” at the same time Mandy answered, "30?” She winced and shut her mouth in guilt as James narrowed his eyes at her.

"Oh,” Topher clapped his hands together, “that's why! You're an old man! You don't look like it though."

"Aren't you 28 years old?" Mandy asked Topher, before realizing she may have overstepped her boundaries for a second time.

"Hey,” Topher raised a finger. “That's nowhere near 30, thank you very much."

With the conversation getting more and more ridiculous by the second, James got off the door way and uncrossed his arms. "He,” he nodded his head towards Topher while looking at Mandy, “is clearly delusional. I have to go. I need to help the kitchen prepare snacks for the kids.”

He walked past the two, with Topher calling out after him, “How about snacks for me? No? Okay, we’ll continue this conversation later!” and then he disappeared into another room.

With James gone, Mandy turned to look at Topher with her nose slightly crinkled as if cringing at how badly that went. Topher shared the same expression as he leaned an elbow on the desk.

“He seems pretty stiff, doesn’t he?” he thoughtfully asked, still watching the door that James had last gone into, as if expecting him to come back any time soon.

Mandy returned to her station and began to tidy up, replying, “He’s actually a cool boss, but he’s just a bit… introverted.” Topher raised an eyebrow at her. “He protects his staff, stands up for people, and he’s very fair. Everyone in the community likes him.”

“Really?” Topher doubtfully asked, and Mandy vigorously nodded her head.

“It also helps that he’s easy on the eyes,” she said with an innocent smile and a shrug.

“Really?” Topher asked once more, picturing the man in his head—short and tidy black hair, unimpressive dark eyes, a bit tanned, decent height but not as tall as him, on the lean side but not too skinny, probably jogged for exercise instead of weightlifting. Topher wondered if he would approach James in a club if they hadn’t known each other, and the answer was a sure “probably not,” because the man would look better suited at a library. Considering all this, he told Mandy, “He looks much more of a butler for me. A sexless robot with his shoulders like that and everything,” to which the woman gave him an odd look for.

Topher stood up straight and lightly drummed on the desk, feeling the topic had gone stale. “Anyway, would you have a map of this place? This is the first time I’ve ever been here and I can’t exactly turn off my Airplane Mode in my phone.”

“Right, your family seems furious,” Mandy said in a whisper even though there wasn’t anyone else around to hear.

“Do they?” Topher asked and bit his lower lip. He could already imagine Charlie’s face that had gone all red while cursing out his name, and his mother’s long sigh matched with a blameful look on his father. “Yeah, I guess. Of course, they would.”

Mandy leaned forward on the desk and quickly looked around before saying, “Excuse me for asking, but are you or your family really in business with Shane Bricks?”

“No way! I really just met him the night they took those photos.”

“But there are other pictures of you in the same places as he was,” Mandy let him know as she took out her phone and began to tap on the screen.

“New ones?” Topher frowned. “Can I see?”

Mandy obliged and once she had found the photos, turned the screen towards him. Just as she said, they were of them in one place, but they didn’t really show them interacting.

“That’s just coincidence. Pure coincidence and bad luck,” Topher truthfully told her. “But I’m sure that’s not what people on the internet are saying.” He let out a sigh and Mandy looked at him sympathetically. Then, remembering his prior request, she pulled a sheet out of one of the drawers and handed it to him.

“Sorry, here’s the map. It’s a bit outdated since a few more stores have opened up, but this might help. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

Topher did a quick scan and found barely any familiar establishments in the area. “Not really, maybe bars, clubs, an Hermes nearby? No?”

The answer was clear, judging by the look on Mandy’s face. “We have a club, but I don’t think you’d like it.”

“Restaurants? Coffee shops?”

“We have room service, but there’s a limited menu. If you’d like, I can request something for you in the kitchen.”

Topher appreciated the genuinely kind offer, but he was thinking more of something like sushi or maybe a nice medium rare steak—both of which he doubted their hotel kitchen had. “I’ll uh, I’ll just look around for a bit,” he said with a polite smile. He was quickly going through the list of establishments when one in particular caught his eye. “Huh,” he muttered, then looked up at Mandy curiously. “What would you say your favorite color is?”

Even when surprised by the sudden out-of-place question, Mandy answered, “Purple?”

Topher nodded thoughtfully, as if taking note of it in his head. “How about Bruce’s?”

“Bruce? I think, blue.”

“And mister tin man?”

Mandy was confused for a second until she realized who he’d meant. “Green? I’d assume. He loves plants.”

“Okay. Great.” Topher neatly folded the map and inserted it in his pocket. With a smile he said, “Thanks for all your help, Mandy. I will see you soon. That is, if I don’t get lost,” then he walked out the doors with a plan in mind.