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

the tough facade she had shown him earlier

Everyone had left for real. She was really all alone.

reason why Ellie went to L City was to

time and have a few nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What was waiting for her was the news she

home when she arrived. She assumed that they went out for some groceries. She wanted to surprise them and

got an answer. All of them just looked at her with sad faces and tried

started to panic after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole day.

tried to avoid talking about them at first.

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

their lives, but this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age, it took

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

story, she didn't believe them.

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

she had known, she would not agree to

she decided to return

house and saw her sitting on the

so hard for her to accept that

let's eat something first." He places a breakfast platter on the table in front of her.

up at him, surprised, "Why are you

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

what I told you last night? No matter what happens, I will be with you. You

with

she should trust him.

really tempting when he told

took over Ellie.

know what to do.

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

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

but she was

about what she was feeling, but she