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.

to hold herself. Her tears started

as if all the tough facade she had shown

had left for real. She was really all

to L City was to visit

meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What was waiting for her was the

She wanted to surprise them and didn't call. But when it was getting dark, and they were still not home, she

of them just looked at her with sad faces and

her. However, she started to panic after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents for

tried to avoid talking about them at first. She tried to

one of the neighbors told her that her grandparents had passed away and

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

they seemed to know how 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 her worry.

story, she didn't believe them.

during their last visit to J City. She

would not

she decided to

on the bed,

felt really bad. He wondered why it was so hard for her to accept that they had spent

places a breakfast platter on the table in front of her.

him, surprised, "Why are

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

told you last night? No matter what happens, I will be with you.

with a

know if she should

when he told her she would not be alone.

over Ellie.

what to do.

on her. She had

didn't hate the idea of getting

but she was

what she