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.

arms to

as if all the tough facade she had shown him

now. Everyone had left for real. She

Ellie went to L City was to visit her grandparents.

time and have a few nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened.

wanted to surprise them and

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

she didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole day. She went to

talking about them at first.

one of the neighbors told her that her grandparents had passed away and

sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age, it

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

she didn't believe them.

City. She didn't believe that any sickness

she had known, she would not agree to let them

until she decided

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

bad. He wondered why it was so hard for

something first." He places a breakfast platter on the

him, surprised, "Why are you

red and swollen, but she couldn't keep

told you last night? No

with a blank

didn't know if she

told

took over

what to do.

failed marriage had left a huge traumatic mark on

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

realized it, but she was happy when he was

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