Equino

"Lin-er! Lin-er! Did you hear me? Chen-ge was on the oil platform, wasn't he?" yelled a chubby boy of about sixteen years of age. He had been shaking his best friend Jin Lin for three minutes without getting any response. Looking at his friend's red-rimmed eyes and haggard appearance it was easy to tell what had just happened.

The two of them had been walking home from school when Jin Lin received a phone call from his aunt. Coincidentally, Fen Hao was just reading an article online that hit hot search on Weibo a minute ago. To be honest, the news wasn't Fen Hao's thing but it happened to appear on his feed somehow. While he was reading the article out loud, Jin Lin's phone rang leading up to this moment.

Jin Lin didn't hear the rest of it. The words Chen Chen and explosion made his mind chaotic like he was suddenly struck by lightning. With trembling hands and tears blurring his eyes, Jin Lin dropped the hand that was holding the phone to his ear with a distraught appearance. His hand drooped to the side and he began to cry. In this moment, he didn't care how he looked or that he was crying in the street.

All he could think of was rushing to the hospital, so he bolted without warning leaving behind a confused Fen Hao. He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe his brother would just leave like that. All he could see was his brother's face as he ran through the crowded streets. He bumped into several people along the way but he couldn't recall if he apologized or not. His mind was dead set on getting to the hospital.

If one were to ask him in the future how he got to the hospital, he wouldn't be able to answer that question. It's only after he ran past the sliding doors did he try to reorganize his thoughts.

He dashed past the hospital doors rushing straight into a boisterous emergency room. The smell of disinfectant wafted into his nose which made him feel nauseous but he had no time to worry about that. Breathing heavily he abruptly stopped realising he had no idea where to go. His forehead laced with a layer of sweat Jin Lin ran over to the reception desk.

The pretty sister by the front desk seemed to be having a bad day as well, as her once immaculate makeup was drooping giving off the illusion that her face was melting in real-time.

"Hello Jiejie, I am looking for someone. Jin Chen... he's my brother. Can you please tell me where I can find him?" he asked with both his hands on the countertop looking distraught.

The pretty sister didn't raise her head while frantically typing on the keyboard at light speed. She simply raised her index finger as though telling him to hold on. The emergency room was still receiving patients who had been airlifted from the exploded oil rig.

Everywhere he looked were busy nurses and doctors assisting injured patients. Some were wrapped up in gauze with burns covering their bodies while others were covered in blood from critical injuries.

Amidst the chaos, the sound of the pretty sister tapping on the keyboard with her acrylic nails was amplified irritating Jin Lin.

He impatiently tapped his finger on the countertop and called out once more, "Please jiejie, my brother is a patient at this hospital. Please check for me... it's an emergency... please."

This time she ignored him as she carried on typing but this was Jin Lin's last straw. His brother was his hero, his benefactor and the only person in the Jin family who loved him despite everything.

When he was a kid he almost drowned in the bathtub while being watched by the nanny. It was Jin Chen who saved him.

When he was ten, he was beaten up by the neighbourhood hoodlums. It was Jin Chen who saved him and got stabbed in his place. Even in his teenage years, his brother still took care of him despite having moved out of the family home. His brother is his entire world. If he lost him, then how was he supposed to pick up the pieces?

Overwhelmed by a cocktail of emotions, Jin Lin couldn't hold back any longer. He was normally silent and reserved but in this moment he lost his cool. Without putting much thought into it he grabbed the vase on the counter and flung it at the wall behind the reception desk.

Crash!

The loud noise woke the pretty sister from her trance screaming in fright. The entire room quieted down apart from the occasional groans and wails coming from some patients.

"JIN! CHEN!! I am looking for... Jin, Chen," he said before inhaling deeply with a flushed face, "my brother. Can someone help me?"

As soon as he said that his tears came streaming down as the floodgates of his pent up emotions opened up for the entire emergency room to see. His actions not only got him a set of silver bracelets but also brought him to his brother's ward.

The security guard stood watch as Jin Lin stretched his trembling hands to touch his brothers sleeping face. Jin Lin kept on mumbling, "He's just sleeping. Dage is just sleeping..... he will wake up soon." His trembling finger almost reached to touch his big brother but his hand was suddenly smacked away by his livid mother.

Mama Jin glowered at him and said, "What are you touching him for? Why is it that you are standing here instead of my Xiao Chen, huh? Wuwuwu.... why not take that scourge and not my little stardust?" She wailed with her beautiful face stained in tears with her mascara running like she had been taking a stroll in the rain.

That's right, their relationship wasn't anything to admire. Jin Chen and Jin Lin were like two sides of the earth's poles. Jin Chen was a high achiever, a genius in the making with countless prospects. He had just managed to save up enough money as a startup for his own company.

Before this unfortunate incident, he had already submitted his resignation as a project lead for Exxa Industries. Jin Chen wasn't supposed to be at the oil rig but there was an emergency that brought him on sight landing him in a coma.

Jin Lin, on the other hand, is a, according to his mother, 'wastrel, igit with no future'. He wasn't bright but neither was he stupid. It's just that he wasn't good enough for his mother.

Mama Jin was satisfied with one child but when her husband died she hooked up with her high school sweetheart conceiving Jin Lin. This explains the six-year age gap between the two brothers.

In his mother's eyes, he was a parasite that played games all day which meant he was an eyesore towards the woman who birthed him. Now her stardust was lying in a coma while the wastrel was as strong as an ox. This made her especially angry which is why she smacked his hand away.