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

herself now. Everyone had left for real. She was really all

L City was to visit

none of that ever happened.

one was 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 were still not home, she figured that something

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

to panic after she didn't hear anything about her

talking about them at first.

her that her grandparents had passed away and it

had hardly caught a cold in their lives, but this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age,

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

the story, she didn't believe

to J City. She didn't believe that any

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

she mourned until she decided to return

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

for her to accept that they

breakfast platter on the table

him, surprised, "Why are you

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

forget what I told you last night? No matter what

looked at him with a blank expression.

didn't know if she should trust

he told her she would not be

took over

didn't know what to do.

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

was different. She didn't hate the idea of

just realized it, but she was happy

about what she was feeling, but she knew