A Love Trap

"Ellie! Stop... talking... like that!" he spluttered.

Francis might have been with a lot of women, but he took nobody seriously. Those women knew it and they didn't mind.

But Ellie was different. He never thought of treating her badly.

He could not fathom why she had to hurt herself like that.

He was really upset. Not because of what she thought about him, but because of how she saw herself.

The worst part of it was that she called him "Mr. Francis." The fact that she called him "Mr. Francis"

hurt him the most.

Ellie closed her eyes and pursed her lips. She didn't say anything.

Francis grabbed both her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Ellie, please tell me you're joking." He looked at her, his eyes firm with pleading and frustration. "Please tell me you didn't mean any of what you just said."

Francis' eyes spoke sincerely to Ellie.

She couldn't take another look at him. She needed strength to say what she was about to say, "No, I meant everything I said."

Francis could see right through her lie. He shouted, "Look me in the eye and tell me again! You didn't mean any of that, right?"

Ellie looked into his eyes, her visage as fierce as the crunching in her chest. "I meant it. I meant every bit of it. You may leave Mr. Francis."

Ellie pointed to the door gesturing for Francis to leave.

"Fine!" Francis clenched his jaw and gnashed his teeth in anger.

He let go of her and turned around to leave.

The thud that came from the shutting door made Ellie flinch. As the door closed, the room fell into silence.

Ellie could only look at the direction where he had gone.

her shaking arms to hold

the tough facade she had shown him earlier had

had left for real. She was

why Ellie went to L City was to visit her

was going to spend some time and have a few nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What was waiting for her was the news

She assumed that they went out for some groceries. She wanted to surprise them and didn't call. But when it was getting dark, and they were still not home,

neighbors but never really got an answer. All of them just looked

However, she started to panic after she didn't

them at first. She tried

her grandparents had passed away and it had already been

Laura had hardly caught a cold in their lives, but this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age, it took their lives very quickly. No one

little time they had before they passed. They told the neighbors not to tell Ellie. They said that they might fight it through and they didn't want to make

she

grandparents were fine during their last visit to J City. She didn't believe that

she had known, she would not agree to let them

she mourned until she decided to return

her sitting on the bed, holding her knees,

for her to

breakfast platter on the table in front

him, surprised,

but she

her, Francis sighed, "Did you forget what I told you last night? No

looked at him with a blank expression.

she should trust

when he told her she would not be alone.

took over

didn't know what to

failed marriage had left a huge traumatic mark on her. She had stayed away

Francis was different. She didn't hate the idea of

she was happy when

see him, she felt lost. She wasn't sure about what she was feeling, but she knew that she cared about