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 started

she had shown him earlier had started crumbling.

all by herself now. Everyone had left

why Ellie went to L City was to

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

surprise them and didn't call. But when it was getting dark, and they were still not

answer. All of them

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 neighbors and

avoid talking about them at first.

one of the neighbors told her that her grandparents had passed away and

hardly caught a cold in their lives, but this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With

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 them.

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

she had known, she would not

she mourned until she decided

on the bed, holding her knees, her head buried

wondered why it was so hard for her

breakfast platter on the table in

him, surprised, "Why are you

were red and swollen, but she couldn't

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

at him with

if she

he told her she

took over Ellie.

what

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

the idea of getting close

she was happy when he

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