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.

herself with her shaking arms to hold herself. Her

she had shown him earlier had started crumbling.

left for real. She was

reason why 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 waiting for her was

that they went out for some groceries. She wanted to surprise them and didn't call. But when it was

the neighbors but never really got an answer. All of them

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 her grandparents for the whole

avoid talking about them at first. She tried to ask

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

on them all of a sudden. With their age, it took their lives very quickly. No one had

that they might fight it through and they didn't want to make her worry. They

story, she didn't

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

had known, she would not agree

she decided to

saw her sitting on the bed,

wondered why it was so hard for her to accept that they had spent a night

breakfast platter

surprised,

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

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

at him with a blank

didn't know if she

really tempting when he told her she would

took over Ellie.

didn't know what

failed marriage had left a huge traumatic mark on her. She had stayed away from men for many years.

She didn't hate the idea of getting close

just realized it, but she was happy when

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