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.

arms to hold herself. Her tears started

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

herself now. Everyone had left for real. She was really all alone.

L City was to visit her grandparents.

some time and have a few nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What was waiting for her was the news she never

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

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

didn't care 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

them at first. She

grandparents had passed

all of a sudden. With their age, it took their lives very quickly. No

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

hearing the story, she didn't believe them.

grandparents were fine during their last visit to J City. She didn't believe that any sickness could just take their

known, she would not agree to let them

mourned until she decided to return home.

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

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

first." He places a breakfast

up at him, surprised, "Why are

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

to her, Francis sighed, "Did you forget what I told you last night? No matter

him with a blank expression.

know if she should

sounded really tempting when he told her she would not be

took over Ellie.

didn't know what to do.

parents' failed marriage had left a huge traumatic mark on her. She had stayed away from men

She didn't hate the idea of

it, but she was happy when he was around.

lost. She wasn't sure about what she was