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.

shaking arms to

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

left for real. She was really

reason why Ellie went to L City was

nice meals with them. But none of that

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 home, she figured that something could be wrong.

but never really got an answer. All of them just

didn't hear anything about her grandparents

tried to avoid talking about them at first.

the neighbors told her that her grandparents had passed away and it had already

but this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age, it took their lives very quickly. No one

they might fight it through and they didn't want to make her worry. They also told them that if the sickness got worse,

the story, she didn't

visit to J City. She didn't believe

known, she would not agree to let them leave.

she

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

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

first." He places a breakfast platter on

at him, surprised,

swollen, but she couldn't keep her tears from falling down.

"Did you forget what I told you last night? No matter what happens, I will be with you. You are not

him with a

didn't know if she should trust

tempting when he told her she would not

took over Ellie.

what

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

the

it, but she was happy when he was around.

sure about what she was feeling, but she knew that she cared about