This story is inspired by my dad disappointing me twice.
"Wake up." Ji Yeon shouted as she jumped on her parents bed."It's time for birthday pancakes."
Jin sat up and looked at his phone to check the time. Seeing it was seven in the morning."You're right."
They made their way to the kitchen quietly so they wouldn't wake everyone else up and began preparing what they called birthday pancakes. This tradition had started on Ji Yeon;s second birthday when she couldn't decided what flavor of pancakes she wanted, so they just added their three favorite flavors, which were banana, blueberry, and chocolate chip. Nobody else in the house ate them except the two people with a birthday. The rest of the family thought the pancakes were weird and preffered one flavor of pancakes, so Jin made sure to make all three flavors of pancakes for the rest of his family.
Jin and Ji Yeon sat at the kitchen enjoying their tri flavored pancakes with whip cream on top when Jin's phone rang. He got up to answer it just as the rest of the family filed into the kitchen and grabbed plates of their preffered flavor of pancakes.
"How can you eat that?" Min Jun asked as he sat down with his plate of banana pancakes with carmel sauce on them.
"They're good." Ji Yeon said swallowing the last bite. Min Jun just made a face and began to eat his food.
As the family finished their breakfast Jin came back dressed for work.
"You have to work on our birthday?" Ji Yeon asked as Jin entered the room.
"Yes." Jin answered knelling down next to his daughter."Go make cupcakes and have fun. I'll make it up to you."
Jin went to work and Ji Yeon went and sat on the couch. She hadn't been sitting there long when the doorbell rang. She was to busy being upset to pay attention to who was at the door.
"You're not suppossed to be sad on your birthday." JI Yeon looked up upon hearing the familar voice of her favorite cousin.
"Appa has to work on our birthday and he can't make cupcakes with me now." Ji Yeon explained.
"That's what happens when you grow up." Mun Hee said."Me and all your friends can still make some though."
"I guess." Ji Yeon answered sadly.
"Can Ji Yeon open a present now?" Min Jun asked hoping it would put his sister in a better mood.
Mi Sun nodded and Min Jun ran off to his room.
"This is from all of us." Min Jun said handing Ji Yeon a big white bag with a pink and purple cupcake on it. Min Jun and his two older siblings sat on the couch and watched Ji Yeon open her present.
"A squshy cupcake pillow!" Ji Yeon exclaimed pulling out a cupcake shaped pillow that had a pink bottom and white top with sparkly sprinkles on it. Inside the pillow had small beans that made it feel squishy.
"There's more." Min Jun told her as Ji Yeon continued to hug the pillow.
She reached further inside the bag and pulled out some light pink pajamas with different colored cupcakes on them.
"Thanks guys." Ji Yeon said then turned to her oldest cousin."Where's your present?"
"It's being put together, but with all this cupcake stuff I'm not sure if you're going to like it." Mun Hee answered.
"What is it?' Ji Yeon asked.
"A surprise." Mun Hee answered.
"Tell me." Ji Yeon begged.
"It's somthing you'll like." Mi Sun told her."Now go get dressed. You can't make cupcakes with all your friends in your pajamas."
Ji Yeon came back dressed in a tuquoise dress with Moana on it.
"I want to ride with you." Ji Yeon told Mun Hee as she was helping her put her shoes on.
"Only cause it's your birthday." Mun Hee said switching on the Moana soundtrack once Ji Yeon's car seat had been placed in the back of her blue cruz.
They arrived at the bakery where the party was to take place. They walked in to find everyone waiting for them.
"Happy birthday." Dil announced running up to Ji Yeon and giving her a hug.
"Thanks." Ji Yeon said and took a seat next to Dil and Lil. Kiimi was also at the table with them. They were each handed a cupcake and different tubes of colored frosting.
"How do you get the frosting out?" Ji Yeon asked as she saw everyone had some frosting on their cupcakes.
"Like this." Dil answered squeezing the tube of green frosting and making an explosion all over his hands and his cupcake.
"That's one way to get frosting on a cupcake." Mun Hee laughed making Dil blush.
"Here." Mun Hee said grabbing the tube of blue forsting that was in front of Ji Yeon and making a flower on top of Ji Yeon's cupcake.
"Can you show me how to do that?" Lil asked looking down at her mess of a cupcake covered in pink frosting.
"Sure." Mun Hee came over and made a flower on top of Lil and Kimi's cupcakes that weren't decorated yet. They each got two. One to eat there and one to take home.
"Phil can have the messy one since he's not here." Lil said admiring her pink flower on her vanilla cupcake.
"I think I'll give Chuckie my purple flower one." Kimi said taking a bite of the cupcake she decorated herself.
Once all the cupcakes had been decorated Ji Yeon opend her presents and the party concluded. Didi came and picked up the kids since she had been watching Chuckie, Tommy, and Phil, who hadn't been invited to the party since they were more Min Jun's friends and not Ji Yeon's.
As they were leaving the bakery Mun Hee recieved a text from her boyfriend."Your present is ready. Do you want to go to the park and try it out?"
"Ok, but what is it?" Ji Yeon asked.
"You'll see when we get there." Mun Hee told her. She called her aunt and told them to meet them at the park.
"A bike! With Moana on it!" Ji Yeon exclaimed excitedly when she saw the small turquoise bike with her favorite princess on it.
"I told you she'd like it." Mi Sun said.
"Can you teach me how to ride it?" Ji Yeon asked.
"Like this." Dil called as he rode by on his green bike. Didi had decided to take the kids to the park to run off some of the sugar they had.
Adam, Mun Hee's boyfriend placed a pink helmet on Ji Yeon's head and then hekped her on the bike showing her what to do. Dil stopped to wait for her and they rode down the path for a few minutes.
"Let's race." Dil said once Ji Yeon had gotten the hang of riding.
"Ok." Ji Yeon agreed. They pedaled as hard as they could. Suddenly the two kids found themsleves flying through the air, hitting the ground hard. It took them a few seconds to sit up. The air had been knocked from their lungs.
"I'm bleeding." Dil cried holding his elbow.
"Me too and I lost a shoe." Ji Yeon added looking down at her bleeding knee.
Turning away from their injuries they heard shouting and saw their moms running towards them.
"Are you ok?" Didi and Mi Sun asked their kids as they examined them for any other injuries. The kids nodded as they watched Mun Hee and Adam yell at the teenagers who had caused the kids to crash.
Later that night Jin arrived home to find his wife folding laundry.
"Is Ji Yeon still awake?" He asked.
"She might be. I put a movie on for her a few minutes ago." Mi Sun answered as she folded a pair of Min Jun's shorts.
Jin grabbed a cupcake and a candle off the counter and went to his daughter's room. He found her laying in bed watching a movie and hugging her cupcake pillow.
"Ready to make a wish?" Jin asked making Ji Yeon jump from her bed and run over. Jin knelt down with cupcake which had a lit candle in it. They blew out the candle together and split the cupcake.
"What did you wish for?" Jin asked once they both had finished their half of the chocolate cupcake.
"I wish that you would take me to New York and eat pizza and see a play and go shopping." Ji Yeon answered.
"oh really." Jin laughed."That's a big wish for such a little girl."
"I'm big now. I'm four." Ji Yeon insisted holding up four fingers."So now I wish big."
"Well I'm off next weekend so I think we can make your wish come true then." Jin told her.
"Eomma." Ji Yeon called running from the room."Appa is taking me to New York."
"Are you really?" Mi Sun asked coming in the room with Ji Yeon in her arms.
"I missed celebrating our birthday together and that was her wish." Jin answered.
"Well both your birthdays are almost over." Mi Sun said putting Ji Yeon in her bed.
"We still have some time left." Jin said looking at his watch."What do you want to do?"
"I want you to watch a movie with me." Ji Yeon answered looking her dad in the eye and then adding."Both of you."
Mi Sun and Jin sat with Ji Yeon in between them and watched the rest of the movie.
The weekend came much to slow for Ji Yeon. She waited by the door anxiously waiting for her father to come home.
"It's time for bed." Mi Sun said picking Ji Yeon up off the floor where she had been waiting all evening.
"But appa sposed to take me to New York." Ji Yeon whined.
"I know but it's late and he's probably busy." Mi Sun explained as she pulled the blanket over Ji Yeon, who yawned and rubbed her eyes.
"Go to sleep and when you wake up appa will be here." Mi Sun told her.
Soon after all the kids were in bed there was a knock at the door. She opened the door to find James standing there.
The blond man sighed before speaking."There's been an accident."
After leaving a note for the kids Mi Sun and James drove to the hospital.
"How is he?" MI Sun asked as she saw her sister waiting for them in a row of chairs.
"Not good." Miju answered."I don't know all the details. He's in surgery now."
They waited for a few hours until a short African American doctor appeared in front of them.
"He lost a lot of blood but he's going to be fine." The doctor told them.
Mi Sun sighed in relief."Thank you Bailey."
A few days later Jin was sent home to recover.
"Are you all better?" Ji Yeon asked climbing up on the couch and making herself comfortable next to her father.
"Almost, but when I am all better we'll go to New York just like I promised." Jin answered giving Ji Yeon a hug.
Sometime later Jin, Ji Yeon, and Dil boarded a plain and headed for New York.