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. Her

all the tough facade she had shown him earlier had started crumbling.

left for

Ellie went to L City was to visit

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

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, and they were still not

but never really got an answer. All of them just looked at her with sad faces

beginning, she didn't care about the way they looked at her. However, she started to panic after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents

avoid talking about them at first. She tried to ask

her grandparents had passed away and it had

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 had expected its coming.

might fight it through and they didn't want to make her worry. They also told them

she didn't believe them.

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

known, she would not agree to

mourned until she

on the bed, holding her knees, her head buried between them and crying

it was so hard for her to accept that they had spent a night

let's eat something first." He places a breakfast

looked up at him, surprised, "Why are you

swollen, but she

told you last night? No matter what happens, I

at him with a blank expression.

didn't know if she

told her she would not

over Ellie.

know what to

left a huge traumatic mark on her. She had stayed away from men for

didn't hate the

she was happy when he was around.

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