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

as if all the tough facade she

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

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 the news she

out for some groceries. She wanted to surprise them and didn't call. But when it was getting dark, and

neighbors but never really got an answer. All of them just looked at her with sad faces

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 day. She went

them at

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

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

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 themselves.

hearing the story, she didn't

She didn't believe that any sickness could just

known, she would not

until she decided to return home.

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

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

He places a breakfast

at him, surprised, "Why are you

and swollen, but she couldn't keep her tears

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

at him with a

she should trust

when he told her she

took over Ellie.

what to

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

different. She didn't hate the idea of getting

was happy when he was around.

she felt lost. She wasn't sure about what she was