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.

with her shaking arms to hold herself. Her tears started falling.

tough facade she had shown him earlier had started crumbling.

herself now. Everyone had left for

went to L City was to visit

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

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

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

panic after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole day. She

avoid talking about them at first. She

of the neighbors told her that her grandparents had passed

this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age,

passed. They told the neighbors not to tell Ellie. They said that they might fight it through and they didn't want to make her worry. They also told

the story, she

visit to J City. She didn't believe that any sickness could just take

known, she would not

until she decided to return home.

her sitting on the bed, holding her knees, her head buried between them and crying out loud.

wondered why it was so hard for her to accept that they

breakfast

surprised, "Why are you still

miserable. Her eyes were red and swollen, but

you forget what I told you last night?

at him with a

she should

told her she would not be

over

didn't know what to

on her.

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

she was happy when he

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