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

if all the tough facade she had shown

had left for

L City was to visit her grandparents.

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 figured

of them just looked at her with

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

about them at first. She

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

caught on them all of a sudden. With their age, it took their lives very quickly. No one had expected

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 them that if the sickness got worse, they would tell Ellie

hearing the story, she didn't believe

their last visit to J City. She didn't believe that any

had known, she would not agree to let them leave.

until she decided to return home.

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

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

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

looked up at him, surprised, "Why are you

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

what I told you last

looked at him with

know if she should

it sounded really tempting when he told her she

took over

didn't know what

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

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

realized it, but she was happy

him, she felt lost. She wasn't sure about what she