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 hold herself. Her tears started falling.

facade she

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

L City

few nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What was

arrived. She assumed that they went out for some groceries. She wanted to surprise them and didn't call. But when it was getting

answer. All of them just looked at her with sad faces and tried to avoid her.

she didn't care about the way they looked at her. However, she started to panic after she didn't hear anything

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

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

of a sudden. With their age, it took their lives

neighbors not to tell Ellie. They said that they might fight it through and they didn't

story, she didn't

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

known, she would not agree to

days she mourned until she decided to return

then, Francis had returned to Ellie's house and saw her sitting on the bed, holding her knees, her

it was so hard for her to accept that they

places a breakfast platter on the table

surprised, "Why are you

but she couldn't

"Did you forget what I told you last night? No matter what happens,

looked at him with a blank

if she

when he told her she

over

what

on her. She had

hate the idea of getting close

realized it, but she was

sure about what she was feeling, but she knew that she cared about