Don't Mind Loneliness, It's Better Than Loving You

Juliana returned groggily to her tiny rented room. As soon as she lay down, a low fever set in, and she was entangled in a vivid dream.

A younger Kianna asked, "Juliana, what kind of boy do you like?"

"Someone like Bradley," she replied, blushing with a racing heart.

She could still remember the excitement she felt when she said those words.

In the next scene, Kianna was kneeling before her, pleading.

"Juliana, I don't love Bradley. I can't marry him. Please help me escape, okay?"

She replied, "Kianna, Bradley is a great man. If you give it a chance, you'll surely fall in love with him."

"Juliana, I know you like Bradley. Our families will be joined by marriage. You're just like my own sister. If you married him, it would be the same. Please, I really can't marry him. I'd be miserable for the rest of my life."

That long-held secret was suddenly laid bare. With Kianna's desperate pleading, Juliana could no longer resist and agreed.

Later, when Kianna had her accident, Juliana asked herself countless times the same question. If she hadn't harbored that small, selfish desire, would Kianna still be alive?

The guilt gnawed at her heart.

After Kianna's death, she never considered marrying Bradley.

To her, Bradley always belonged to Kianna. She never dared take what was Kianna's.

No matter how much she loved him, though it was ten long years of unspoken love.

After the accident, she avoided Bradley at all costs. But one morning, she woke up beside him in the same bed.

Bradley personally went to her adoptive father Tyrese to ask for her hand, vowing to take responsibility.

At the time, she thought he had finally let go of his resentment, but she didn't realize it was only the beginning of his revenge.

Later, after Tyrese passed away, Bradley threw her into prison for three years.

He told her it was the debt she owed Kianna.

The dream shifted again. She was back in the cold, dark prison.

"I didn't kill my father! I didn't start that fire! I need to see a lawyer!" she screamed.

Bradley, dressed in a silver-gray suit, entered. She rushed toward him in desperation, pleading, "You have to believe I'm innocent. Help me get a lawyer. They won't listen to me!"

He kicked her aside, grabbed her by the chin, and lifted her face toward him. "I knew they wouldn't listen to you. I'm the one who made them do this." Her pupils dilated in shock. Bradley tossed her aside and gestured to a cruel-looking woman standing nearby, saying, "She's here to atone, not to vacation. Make sure you treat her accordingly."

"Please don't! Don't kick my stomach! No!"

The other prisoners ignored her pleas. Their fists rained down on her, and her stomach was brutally kicked several times.

Pain shot through her abdomen, and her lower half was soaked in blood. Lying helpless on the ground, she didn't even think to call for help.

Because Bradley wouldn't give her the chance.

As she lay there, she felt the fragile life inside her slowly slipping away, along with any love she had dared to feel for Bradley.

Juliana thought, Baby, I'm sorry. I'm the one who is to blame for it. I'm a sinner. I'm so sorry.

From that day forward, she silently endured all the abuse.

Even the leading prisoner thought she had gone mad. "Hey, do you not feel pain or something? You won't even cry out when we beat you?"

Juliana forced a bitter smile. It wasn't that she didn't feel pain. It was just that the ache in her heart was a hundred times worse, a thousand times worse.

That pain was given to her by Bradley, and it was the debt she owed her child. She would endure it all, without complaint.

Every blow and every insult... She deserved it all!