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 hold herself. Her tears

the tough facade she had

now. Everyone had left for

L City was to

nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What was waiting for her

wanted to surprise them and didn't

but never really got an answer. All of them just looked at her with

about the way they looked at her. However, she started to panic after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole day. She went to the

at first.

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

caught a cold in their lives, but this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age, it took their lives very quickly. No one had expected its coming.

they 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 sickness got worse, they would

the story, she

last visit to J City. She didn't believe that any sickness could just take

known, she would not

she mourned until she decided to

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

He wondered why it was so hard for her to accept

breakfast platter on

at him, surprised, "Why are you still

swollen, but she couldn't

closer to her, Francis sighed, "Did you forget what I told you last night? No matter what

at him with a

didn't know if she should trust

it sounded really tempting when he told her she would not be alone.

took over Ellie.

what to

huge traumatic mark on her. She had stayed away from

the

was happy when

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