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.

facade she had

Everyone had left for real.

Ellie went to L City was to visit her grandparents.

some time and have a few nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What

and didn't call. But when it was getting dark, and they were still not home, she figured that something could be wrong.

really got an answer. All of them just looked at her with

didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole day. She went to the neighbors and

at first.

of the neighbors told her that her grandparents had passed away and it had already been a month.

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

said that they might fight

the story, she didn't believe

She

would not agree to

she mourned until she

had returned to Ellie's house and saw her sitting on the bed, holding her

He wondered why it was so hard for her to accept that they had spent a

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

looked up at him, surprised, "Why

and swollen, but she couldn't keep her

last night? No matter what happens, I

at him with

she should trust

told her she would

over Ellie.

what to do.

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

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

was happy when

She wasn't sure about what she was feeling, but she knew