Jin tried hard to avoid taking the pain pills, but after awhile the pain was just to much and he was forced to tale them. He knew they could be addicting, and also knew a few fellow cops who had gotten injured on the job and had become addicted to the medication and ultimately it cost them their jobs. He wouldn't put the burden of paying all of the bills and taking care of the kids on Mi Sun's shoulders. He vowed to himself to only take a pill if he absolutely needed it. He wouldn't let himself become addicted.
"Are you ok?'' Mi Sun asked one morning at breakfast.
"Just some pain.'' Jin told her as he reached for a bottle of Advil.
He still hadn't touched the bottle of palm killers on the nightstand.
"Is that even helping?'' Mi Sun asked as Jin took three pills.
"it's enough.'' Jin assured her after he had swallowed the pills.
Later on in the afternoon a thunderstorm sprung up making Jin's pain ten times worse. He had no choice but to take a pill.
The relief was so much more then the average over the counter medicine. In the coming weeks the bottle was empty and Jin needed more. His ribs had healed, but the recent string of storms brought the pain back and he needed more pills.
As a distraction Jin took the kids to the park while he figured out how to get more pills.
"What are you going to do for your third birthday?'' Dil asked as they played in the puddles on the sidewalk.
"I don't know.'' Ji Yeon answered and then looked over to her daddy who was sitting on the bench looking at his phone. She ran over to him and climbed onto the bench.
"What are we doing on our birthday?'' Ji Yeon asked excitedly.
"I don't know.'' Jin answered absentmindly starimg at his phone.
Ji Yeon was disappointed by the response. Her daddy never acted like that before. Usually he would pick her up and set her in his lap and talk to her. He didn't even look at her this time.
She climbed down from the bench and walked back over to Dil and slumped down in the wet grass.
"What did your daddy say?'' Dil asled sitting in the damp grass next to his friend.
"He doesn't know.'' Ji Yeon muttered.
"Ok well you still have time to figure it out.'' Dil said thinking Ji Yeon was upset because she didn't know what she was doing for her birthday.
It began raining once again and Didi called all of the kids have to go home.
"Aw man.'' Phil groaned as he turned to Min Jun.''I wish you could come with us.''
"I'll go ask my dad.'' Min Jun ran over to Jin and asked if he could go to Tommy's house. Jin simply nodded and Min Jun ran off back toward his friends.
Ji Yeon stood next to the park bench expecting to go home, but to her surprise her daddy got up and walked to his car. Ji Yeon tried to keep up, but couldn't in the blinding rain and sadly watched her daddy leave the park without her. She began crying and crawled into a slide to get out of the rain.
Jin drove to a nearby grocery store and went to back where a man was waiting. They exchanged money and a bottle of pils and parted ways. Jin knew it was wrong, but he was desperate. The only thing that made him feel better was that he knew the guy who gave him the pills. He drove home and took two and fell asleep.
"Where are the kids?'' Mi Sun asked a few hours when she returned home from work.
"I don't know.'' Jin answered and then thought about it for a minute.''Probably at Tommy and Dil's house.''
Mi Sun sighed before pulling out her phone and calling Didi to see if her kids were indeed there.
"Min Jun is here.'' Didi told Mi Sun.
"Thank you. I'll come get him soon.'' Mi Sun said hanging up her phone and turning to her husband.
"Ji Yeon isn't at Didi's, so where is she?'' Mi Sun asked sternly.
"I don't know.'' Jin sighed.
"How can you not know where your own daughter is?'' Mi Sun shouted.
"I think I have a problem.'' Jin stated quietly.''She's at the park.''
"You left our two year old daughter at the Park back herself all because you were high on pills?'' Mi Sun shouted as she grabbed the bottle off the coffee table and threw it across the room before storming out the door and heading to the park.
It was getting dark and Ji Yeon really wished someone was with her. It had been raining all day and she was cold. She wanted to go home, but she didn't know her way back and the storm was getting worse.
Ji Yeon jumped when she thought she heard somebody calling her name. She could just make out a light Co,Ong towards her. She got out of the slide and ran toward the light.
Mi Sun bent down and wrapped her arms around her shivering daughter. She carried her home and got in a warm bath followed by warm pajamas, and lastly warm food and a soft fuzzy blanket.
They sat on Ji Yeon's bed and watched a movie on Mi Sun's laptop as the storm raged on outside.