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

the tough facade she

all by herself now. Everyone had left for real. She was really

L City was to visit her grandparents.

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 the news she

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 something could be wrong.

them just

However, she started to panic after she didn't hear anything about

about them at first. She

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

their lives, but this sickness caught on them all of a sudden. With their age, it took

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

hearing the story, she

J City. She didn't believe

not agree to let them

she mourned until she decided

then, Francis had returned to Ellie's house and saw her sitting on the bed,

hard for

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

him, surprised, "Why are you

Her eyes were red and swollen, but

last night? No matter what happens, I will be with you.

looked at him with a blank expression.

if she should

when he told

over

know what to

left a huge traumatic mark on her. She had

was different. She didn't hate the

was happy when he was

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