When The Rich Son Falls

Fifteen

James saw it all happen in a matter of seconds—a few guests and staff trying to get to him in time to help Topher, and Topher hitting his head and falling into the water. Even before the splash came, James was already hurriedly putting the kid he was with back on land, so he could go further into the pool in anticipation of providing help. Topher had fallen with his back first, and everyone basically just froze and stood by, waiting for the man to resurface; but he didn’t. The next second, he was flailing around, and James and Bruce immediately sprang into action at the sense of danger.

Bruce had come from the side, and without hesitation, jumped into the water and managed to reach Topher at the same time as James. The two of them helped Topher to the side, then up to land where a few people began to approach out of worry and curiosity. Thankfully, the other hotel staff were quick to move the people away before they could form a crowd.

James and Bruce laid Topher by the side of the pool, and not a moment after, the man took off his mask, lied on his side and began to cough. Quick on his feet, James kneeled and hunched in front of him to try and cover his face from the public.

“Are you okay? Can you breathe?” James asked, gently patting his back. When Topher nodded, James looked around until his eyes met Mandy’s, who was quick to know that she was needed and approached them.

“Can you take over for a sec?” he asked. Mandy nodded and immediately got to work by taking control of the guests and the kids. James looked at Bruce, who was awaiting orders.

“Where to, boss?”

“The office.”

Bruce nodded and without having to be told, he easily scooped Topher into his arms, while James positioned himself to cover the man’s face as much as he could. Together, they brought Topher into James’s office inside the hotel.

Topher groaned and coughed as they laid him down on a towel on the couch. “Ugh, that was embarrassing,” he managed to weakly let out as he wiped the droplets of water on his face then covered his eyes.

“Thanks, Bruce, you can go now,” James said as he took out the first aid kit. “I’ll take care of this.”

“He’s going to “take care of me”,” Topher lightly chuckled and coughed as he sat up. “You know what that means in my crowd?” he asked James.

“Good grief,” Bruce shook his head disapprovingly. “Are you sure you’ll be alright with this one, boss?”

“I’ll chop his finger off if he tries anything weird,” James replied, glaring at Topher as he did so. Bruce cast one last look of suspicion towards Topher before he reluctantly left and closed the door behind him.

James took the instant cold pack, squeezed it to break the bag inside, then threw it onto Topher’s lap. “Ice it first,” he said. While Topher curiously inspected the pack that had become cooler, James placed a chair in front of him and sat on it, so that they were facing each other. In his hand was his phone with the flashlight turned on.

“Follow the light,” he commanded, and Topher—while pressing the cold pack onto his forehead—did as he was told. “Do you have a headache?” James turned off the light and held a hand towards Topher’s head. Topher put down the pack and let him move his damp hair away to inspect the circular redness on top of his eyebrow.

Even when he’d just been through an accident, Topher wondered if James realized that he was still shirtless, with his face dangerously close, while he was softly and carefully touching Topher’s face. If this were any other guy, it would have naturally led to meaningful eye contact, and then all pieces of clothing would be on the floor the next second; but this was James. And with the way James looked at him, Topher felt more like a toddler with a boo boo than an attractive, s****l being that was to be desired.

“I asked if you have a headache,” James flatly stated, tapping the cold pack as if to mean that he should use it once more, before he stood up to grab an extra uniform from one of the drawers.

Topher picked up the pack and pressed it onto his head, feeling a small sting of disappointment from the clear lack of interest. “My forehead hurts and I’m kind of hungry, but I don’t have a headache,” he said, while James proceeded to put on a shirt. “I’m not feeling nauseous either. Are you checking to see if I have a concussion?”

“Yes. Do you know what day it is?” James sat on the chair once more, while Topher scoffed at his question.

“I never know what day it is. That’s what a calendar in the phone is for.”

“Fine,” James hopelessly sighed. “Do you know where you are?”

Topher took a quick scan of the place. There wasn’t much to it—just a cramped room with a small couch, a desk with drawers, a chair, and a file cabinet with a stack of old boring-looking books on top of it. Even the rug looked dull. “Some lame office in your hotel in a humid sea-side town that doesn’t have a Starbucks,” he truthfully answered. “Come on, ask me something more difficult.” He snapped his fingers impatiently to hurry James.

“Uh, I don’t—fine, what’s the square root of 361?” James ended up saying, unsure what constituted a “difficult question”.

Topher waved it off like it was nothing. “19. That’s easy. Something more difficult.”

“Fine, then what’s 361 squared?”

Topher took a second on this one, narrowing his eyes and staring at the wall for a moment before he confidently replied, “130321.”

James, in all honesty, did not know the answer to his own question, which was why he thought to ask it. Topher had answered it suspiciously quick, so James took out his phone and opened the calculator app. After a while, he looked up at Topher and said, “That’s actually pretty impressive.”

“Contrary to public opinion, I’m actually pretty smart,” Topher let him know. “I used to be great in school. I just got bored with the exams by the time college came, so I never took them seriously.”

“Why did you get bored? You didn’t like what you were studying?”

“That, and I found out my parents didn’t really care if I aced them as long as I graduated,” Topher recalled with a certain air of indifference as he check out his nails, making it seem like they were engaged in a topic that did not interest him. “They already had a job lined up for me anyway. All I really needed was a diploma for formality’s sake.”

He looked up from his hand to see James’s reaction, and before the man could respond, he said with a bitter scoff, “I know what you’re thinking, must be good to have an easy life, right?”

“No,” James answered in a serious tone, much to his surprise. “I was thinking how hard it must be to have your future decided for you. Did you even want the job?” he asked, making Topher’s eyebrows scrunch up a little as he searched James’s face for any indication of sarcasm; but he found nothing. Was this man actually, truly trying to genuinely empathize?

It was a fairly new territory for Topher, considering that most of the people he had met at dinner parties or clubs were only ever interested in the “good” parts of his life. After all, why would anyone want to hear a good-looking rich kid complain?

Maybe he just misread James’s intention. Maybe he just asked that question just for the sake of making conversation.

“It’s a job,” he ended up answering like it was nothing worth discussing. “It paid the bills. I got the money to buy what I wanted.”

He had expected James to either steer the topic into the specific things he wanted and bought, or to say a snide remark about how boastful or lucky he was, but instead, James looked worried and invested. “You never wanted anything more in life?” he asked. “To, I don’t know, be an astronaut, or be an athlete, or whatever dream you had as a kid?”

Something about his first question triggered Topher’s fight or flight response, and he chose the latter. “I wanted to be Superman, but that’s not going to happen,” he jokingly said, then he leaned an elbow on his knee and placed his head on his palm, acting like he was studying James’s face. “Now that I think about it, you kind of look more like a Time Drake Robin from Urban Legends. You know, he just came out as bisexual?”

“Alright, we’re done here,” James said as Topher expected him to react. “You’re clearly fine, but you can stay here for a while as long as you don’t touch anything in here.” James stood up and opened the door. “Be more careful next time,” he said, then he left.

Topher sat back on the couch with a sigh of relief. The conversation was beginning to get heavier; it was a good thing he was able to cut it fast. James was an odd cookie, for sure. There was just something about him that was so disarming, that Topher would’ve shared his entire life story and feelings if he weren’t careful. The man must’ve been a therapist in his old life, he thought as he stood up and walked over to the desk.

Completely ignoring the owner’s words, he opened the drawers out sheer curiosity. In one of them, he found a framed photo of a boy with an elderly couple—presumably James and his grandparents—standing right in front of the hotel. Topher took out his phone—which, thankfully, did not perish in the water—and without any specific reason in mind, snapped a picture of it. He then shut the drawers then left the room.

Just as he stepped out, he saw Mandy walking in his direction, holding a covered tray.

“Are you okay, sir?” she asked as her eyes landed on his forehead.

“Yeah. Just a bit uncomfortable in damp clothes, but I’m feeling better,” he honestly replied. “Oh, and please just call me Topher.”

“Really?” Mandy’s eyes lit up, making Topher smile at how happy she seemed with such a small gesture. “Um, okay, uh, Topher, this is for you,” she said, looking like she couldn’t believe she had just called him by his nickname. “James had the kitchen prepare it. He told me to give it to you as soon as it’s ready and to tell you that you should get some rest instead of getting back out there.”

Food, Topher thought, he’s being given food because he mentioned in passing that he was feeling hungry, and James listened. Even though it was just a small gesture, it was enough to make him forget that he had just made a fool of himself out by the pool, or that his forehead was beginning to throb.

“Thanks,” he said to Mandy as he took the tray. For the first time since he stepped foot in Mariner’s Bay, he thought that maybe the place wasn’t so bad after all.