When The Rich Son Falls

Three

Topher Stevens was known by the people close to him to have a tendency to make careless mistakes. This was a prime example of it.

He had glanced over the ticket that said “Destination: Mariner’s Bay”, seen the pamphlet in his seat about Mariner’s Bay, and even heard the pilot say, “Folks, we are now landing at Mariner’s Bay airport…” and yet, Topher failed to notice that he was on his way to a place that had two consonants and an apostrophe more than the actual destination he was supposed to go to. He was smart. He could have aced all of his classes and become a good businessman or politician if he wanted to, but it was his selective attention that threatened his ruin.

When Topher got out of the plane, he did find it a little odd that the airport was not as upscale as he thought it would be. His friend, Miles, who lived in Marine Bay had always been going on and on about how nice the place was supposed to be and how a lot of celebrities and socialites had been known to frequent it, and yet, Topher looked around and saw just a bunch of normally dressed families and poorly maintained facilities. He ought to give Miles a good smack in the head for fooling him, was what he thought.

Topher sat by the waiting area with his three Louis Vuitton rolling luggage, and a backpack full of cash. He wore a plain shirt, a long black coat, his favorite white denim Armani jeans, expensive basketball shoes, and his signature aviator Gucci sunglasses. It went without saying that in a small-town airport, he stood out like a sore thumb. With everyone else dressed for the warm weather outside, people kept giving him weird looks—which, of course, he completely misunderstood, thinking that their stares were out of recognition or awe of his style.

While he waited, he scrolled through social media once more to see what an uproar he’d caused. His family’s PR team had been trying to handle it, but with people feeling safe under their anonymity in the webspace, there was just too much. His phone had also rung a bunch of times from calls and messages alike, so to give himself some peace of mind, he decided to put his device on Airplane mode and just call Miles using a payphone.

It took just one ring for his friend to pick up, and even before Miles could say a greeting, Topher went ahead with, “Man, where the hell are you?”

“Topher? What do you mean where the hell am I? Where the hell were you?”

“I’m at the airport, you dumbass!”

“I waited at the airport for like thirty minutes, and you never came!”

Topher wildly looked around again, just to see if he missed an angry Miles stomping around somewhere. “I was just at the f*****g waiting area!”

“That’s where I was! I even had some of my guys wait for you by the exit near the fountain, just in case we miss each other.”

“Fountain?” Topher looked around again, and even extended the cord of the phone just to peek at the exit. “There’s no fountain here.”

“What do you mean there’s no—”

“Oh, shit.” Only then did Topher finally realize his mistake, when he saw a man and a woman wearing a Mariner’s Bay couple tee from the gift shop. Marine. Mariner’s. R, apostrophe, f*****g S. Bay. Topher gritted his teeth and growled, “f**k!” in his annoyance with himself.

“What? What is it?” Miles asked from the other side of the line.

“f**k, dude, I’m at—”

“No! No! Don’t tell me!” Miles exclaimed in a panic. “Don’t tell me where you are or anything about where you are!”

“Why not? I’m just going to get the next flight to your—”

“No! Don’t do that! Actually, I’m sorry, Topher, but I’ve been… I’ve been compromised. Your parents reached out to me, and…” when Miles sighed, Topher already knew what he was about to say. “Man, you know how scary your mom is! I had to tell them that you were supposed to come here, and they even had a few people waiting around the airport with me, so it’s a good thing you never showed.”

“How is that a good thing?” Topher bellowed. “I’m f*****g lost!”

“Look, man, I don’t think they know where you are right now, so maybe just stay there and don’t tell anyone where you are. Keep a low profile, too. The news will die down in like, a week, and your family’s anger… well, that’ll probably take a few months to cool off.”

Topher groaned and almost ran a hand through his hair, only to stop at the last minute when he remembered that he might ruin the ‘do that he worked on for half an hour. Instead, he just bit on a knuckle to keep his nerves in check.

“f**k it,” he ended up saying. “Thanks for the help, anyway. And since you caved in with my parents, no VS backstage pass for you next year.” Once Miles began to complain, Topher hung up and grabbed his bags.

Mariner’s Bay.

He was at Mariner’s Bay. Wherever the f**k that was.

Not wanting to go online, he decided to grab a pamphlet from the nearest stand. Miles was right, anyway. The smartest choice was to lay low where he already was, especially since it’s a place that his family would look for him last. Even he wouldn’t even go there if he had a choice. Just looking out through the large pane windows and seeing the bright sun shining down, and the palm trees swaying in what he could only assume was a humid and windy environment, he was already dreading getting out of the airport.

The pamphlet barely had anything to offer, as well. The tourist spots were mostly beaches and caves, and their “best” accommodations looked like the cheap two-star hotels in his city. But it was either that, or getting sent to live in some corner of the world that probably didn’t have WiFi, where he’d have to spend nights in tents and days sweating in front of the camera to show that he was doing some “noble” work, all while getting constant reminders from his family of how great of a failure he was.

So, he took a look at the best hotel that the town had. If he were to stay in that place for an indefinite amount of time, he should at least be living the coziest way possible.

With his designer bag full of cash, he headed towards the exit and set a new destination in mind: The Bay Hotel.