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.

wrapped herself with her shaking arms to hold herself. Her tears started falling.

as if all the tough facade she had

Everyone had left for real. She

Ellie went to L

with them. But none of that ever happened. What was waiting for her was the news

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.

an answer. All of them

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 to

about them at first. She

had passed

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

fight it through and they didn't

story, she didn't believe them.

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

had known, she would not agree to let them

mourned until she decided

had returned to Ellie's house and saw her sitting on the bed, holding her knees, her head buried between them and crying out loud.

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

He places a breakfast

up at him, surprised, "Why are you still

but she couldn't keep her tears from

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

looked at him with

if she should trust him.

sounded really tempting when he told her

over Ellie.

what to do.

had left a huge traumatic mark on her. She had stayed away

was different. She didn't hate the idea of getting close to him.

it, but she was

She wasn't sure about what she was feeling, but she