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

facade she had shown him earlier

by herself now. Everyone had left for

went to L City was to

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 never

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

never really got an answer. All of them just looked at her with sad faces and tried to

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 the neighbors and asked them about

about them at first. She tried to ask again.

the neighbors told her that her grandparents had

all of

time they had before they 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 worse, they

hearing the story, she didn't believe

City. She didn't believe that any

she would not

days she mourned until she decided to return home.

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

so hard for her to accept

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

looked up at him, surprised,

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

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

looked at him with a blank

she should trust him.

told her she would not be alone.

over Ellie.

what to do.

mark on her. She had stayed

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

realized it, but she was happy when he

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