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

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

now. Everyone had left for real.

why Ellie went to L City was to

nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What

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 home, she figured that something could be

neighbors but never really got an answer. All of them just looked

didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole

at first. She tried to ask

her grandparents had passed away and it had already been a month.

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

how little time they had before they passed. 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 them that if the sickness got worse, they

hearing the story, she

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

she would not agree to let them leave.

she decided to

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

why it was so hard for her to

a breakfast platter on the table in front of her.

looked up at him, surprised, "Why are you

swollen, but she couldn't keep

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

with a blank expression.

didn't know if she should trust him.

tempting when he told her

took over Ellie.

know what to do.

on her. She had stayed away

the

she was happy when he was

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