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.

wrapped herself with her shaking arms to hold herself. Her tears started falling.

facade she had shown him earlier had started crumbling.

had left for real. She

to L City was

to spend some time and have a few nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What was waiting for

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 was getting dark, and they

All of them just looked at her with sad faces

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

tried to avoid talking about them at first. She tried to ask again.

one of the neighbors told her that her grandparents had passed away and it had already been a month.

this sickness caught on them all of a sudden.

told the neighbors not to tell Ellie. They said that they might fight it through and they didn't want to make her

hearing the story, she didn't believe

City. She didn't

would not agree to let them leave.

she mourned until she decided

her sitting on the bed, holding her knees, her head buried between them and crying

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

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

at him, surprised, "Why are

eyes were red and swollen, but she couldn't keep

Francis sighed, "Did you forget what I told you last night?

him with

didn't know if she

sounded really tempting when he told her she

over Ellie.

what to do.

traumatic mark on her. She had stayed away from

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

realized it, but she was happy when

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