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

facade she had shown him

had left for real. She

reason why Ellie went to L City was to visit her

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

one was home 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

really got an answer. All of them just looked at her with sad

after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents

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

her that her grandparents had passed away and it had already

and Laura had hardly caught a cold in their lives, but this sickness caught on them all of a

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

story, she didn't

were fine during their last visit to J City. She didn't believe that any sickness could just take their lives.

she would not agree to

days she mourned until she decided to

Ellie's house and saw her sitting on the bed, holding her

bad. He wondered why it was so hard for her to

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

up at him, surprised, "Why are you

Her eyes were red and swollen, but she

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

with a blank

know if she should

really tempting when he told her she would not be

over

what to

traumatic mark on her. She had stayed away from men for

hate the idea of getting close to

was happy when he was

wasn't sure about what she was feeling, but