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.

to hold herself. Her tears started

felt as if all the tough facade she had shown him earlier had

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

Ellie went to L City was to visit

spend some time and have a few nice meals with them. But none of that ever happened. What was waiting

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

of them just looked at her with sad

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

to avoid talking about them at first.

grandparents had passed away and it

sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their

they seemed to know how little 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 to make her worry. They also told them that if the sickness got worse, they would tell Ellie

story, she didn't believe

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

would not agree to

days she mourned until she decided to return home.

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

for her to accept

first." He places a breakfast platter on the table in front of her.

him, surprised,

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

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

him with

know if she should

really tempting when he told her she

over

what to do.

had left a huge traumatic mark on her. She

didn't hate the idea

but she was happy when

sure about what she was