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.

herself with her shaking arms to hold herself.

felt as if all the tough facade she had shown him

left for real. She was really all alone.

reason why Ellie went to L City was to visit

with them. But none of that ever

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

really got an answer. All of them just looked at her with sad faces and tried to

about the way they looked at her. However, she started to panic after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole day. She went to the neighbors and

talking about them at first. She

told her that her grandparents had passed away

in their lives, but this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age, it took their lives

Ellie. They said that they might fight it through and they didn't want to make her worry. They also told them that if the sickness got worse, they

hearing the story, she didn't believe them.

their last visit to J City. She

had known, she would not agree

days she mourned until she decided to return

house and saw her sitting on the bed, holding her knees, her head buried between

He wondered why it was so hard for her to

something first." He places a breakfast platter on the table in front of

him, surprised, "Why

Her eyes were red and swollen, but she couldn't keep her tears from

sighed, "Did you forget what I told you last night? No matter what happens,

with

she should

sounded really tempting when he told her she would not be alone.

over

what

on her. She had

was different. She didn't hate the idea of getting close

it, but she was happy when he

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