99% Mine

1% Mine

It was nearly 1 AM when Sungjae's taxi reached Scargo Lake, far too late to knock on doors and ask whether a certain someone rented their place or not.

He then checked into an inn and had a restless sleep. When he woke up at 7 AM, he walked into the small balcony of his room, and realized that the lake was huge. He wouldn't be able to just go and knock on cottage doors, it's not like there were only 10 cottages.

He tried her phone again, and it was still turned off.

He had no other choice. He had to knock on cottage doors.

He showered then called a taxi.

"Please take me to the best area that has cottages that rents with one or two rooms."

When he arrived and saw the area, he felt that Sooyoung would definitely like the place. So he began knocking on doors, showing a picture of her and asking whether she rented the place. There might be around 50 small, pretty cottages.

Some were empty, some had sleepy looking owners who were suspicious as to why he was asking for a girl.

"Have you seen her? She's my girlfriend. We had a horrible fight and she ran away. I have to find her."

After what felt like two hours, he reached the last row of cottages, overlooking the lake directly. There was an idyllic looking cottage with yellow carnation planted in small pots all over the porch.

Sooyoung loved yellow flowers.

That had to be it.

There was an old woman sweeping the porch.

"Good morning," Sungjae greeted. "Sorry to disturb you. But have you seen this woman? Her name is Sooyoung Park."

The old woman looked like an American grandma, straight out from old novels. Her hair was short, curly and white. She had an apron on, and was looking at him with mild interest.

"Why are you asking?" she asked back.

"............she rented the place, didn't she?"

The woman refused to answer, and proceeded to sweep in silence.

"Did she tell you not to say anything if someone asked for her?"

The woman still said nothing.

"Where is she now?"

The lady then began to water the carnations.

Sungjae didn't know what else to say, but at least she found where Sooyoung was staying. He was nearly convinced that Sooyoung rented the place, she was just out at the moment.

"What is she to you?" the lady suddenly asked.

Sungjae was stunned for a moment. He was not used to have strangers asking him personal questions, but the old lady seemed to hold the key to where Sooyoung was, so he answered,

"Everything."

"When I saw her, I thought I've never seen a woman looking so lost before. But now that I see you, you looked as lost as she. She told me not to tell if anyone asked, yet I'm old. I know that running away would never solve anything. Yes, she rented the place. She's not here now, though. She said she wanted to find some breakfast."

"Your taxi driver can drive you to the shopping area. It's not a big town. You'll find her eventually. Just don't stop looking."

"I won't. Thank you so much!" Sungjae said, before running back to his taxi.

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There were less than 10 restaurants that offered breakfast in that part of the town. It had to be in one of those, because the old lady said she walked, not using a taxi.