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

the tough facade she had shown him earlier had started

had left for real. She was really all

L City was to visit

going to spend some time and have a few nice meals with them. But none of

surprise them and didn't call. But when it was getting dark, and they were still not home, she figured

neighbors but never really got an answer. All of them just looked at her with sad faces and tried to avoid her.

her. However, she started to panic after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole day. She went to the neighbors and

avoid talking about them at first.

grandparents had

them all of

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

hearing the story, she didn't believe them.

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

she had known, she would not agree to

days she mourned until she

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

for her to accept that they had

He places a breakfast platter on the table in

looked up at him, surprised, "Why are

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

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

him with a blank

didn't know if she should

when he told her she would

took over

didn't know what to do.

mark on

Francis was different. She didn't hate the

realized it, but she was happy when

She wasn't sure about what she was