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.

with her shaking arms to

all the tough facade she had shown him earlier had started

was all by herself now. Everyone had left for

went to L City was

But none of that ever happened. What was waiting for

for some groceries. She wanted to surprise them and didn't call.

got an answer. All of them just looked at her with sad faces and tried to avoid

they looked at her. However, she started to panic after she didn't hear anything about her grandparents for the whole day.

talking about them at first. She

grandparents had passed away and it had already been a month.

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

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

hearing the story, she didn't believe

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

she would not agree to let them leave.

until she

returned to Ellie's house and saw her sitting on the

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

eat something first." He places a breakfast platter on the table in

up at him, surprised, "Why

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

you forget what I told you last night? No matter what happens, I will be

with

she should trust him.

tempting when he told

over

know what

on

didn't hate the idea

but she was happy when he was

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