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.

shaking arms to hold herself. Her tears started

as if all the tough facade she had shown

left for real. She

Ellie went to L City was

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

She assumed that they went out for some groceries. She wanted to surprise them and didn't call.

All of them just looked at her with

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

talking about them at first. She tried to

told her that her grandparents had passed

hardly 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

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 them.

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

known, she would not agree to let

she mourned until she

had returned to Ellie's house and saw her sitting on the bed, holding her knees, her head buried between them and crying out loud.

really bad. He wondered why it was so hard for her to accept that they had spent

first." He places a breakfast platter

looked up at him, surprised,

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

Francis sighed, "Did you forget what I told you last night? No matter what happens, I will be with you. You

looked at him with a

didn't know if she should trust

tempting when he told her she

over Ellie.

what to

traumatic mark on her.

hate the idea of

was happy when he was

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