"Spineless pushover. If you've got something to say, come out and say it. Let me be clear, I'm talking about you! @SallyEther."

The moment that comment went up, the usual crowd of sycophants eager to ingratiate themselves with Anya piled on.

"She's the one who's always going around telling everyone she's Kyle's girlfriend, that she's practically his fiancée. So where is she now? Too scared to say a word!"

"She's nothing but a coward. Now that everyone's seen her true colors, she probably can't even show her face. She's probably lurking somewhere reading all of this in silence!"

"And she actually has the nerve to compare herself to someone like Anya? A woman her age going up against someone that young? That's just embarrassing."

I stared at the usernames and felt a jolt of recognition. Every single one of these people was on my team.

I had always treated them well. I gave them room to grow on projects, and even when someone made a mistake, I never followed protocol and escalated it. I handled things quietly, corrected their work behind the scenes, and let it go.

Yet the second they saw Anya get promoted on the spot, they flipped. They scrambled to line up behind her and turned on me without a second thought.

The comment count kept climbing. I read through every last one of them, and I felt nothing.

A few years ago, I probably would have fought back and demanded some kind of fairness. But after going through enough situations just like this one, I just did not have it in me anymore.

Besides, this was not the first time.

If I actually confronted them, anyone with half a brain could predict how it would end. I would be the one punished.

The last time something like this had happened, all I had done was disagree with a few colleagues on the direction of a project. I shared my perspective, nothing more. Anya accused me of pulling rank, bullying my coworkers, and took the whole thing straight to Kyle.

Kyle did not even ask for my side. He docked half a month of my pay on the spot and made me clean the office bathrooms for a month.

Thinking about that, I calmly closed the app, ignored every comment, and walked into the office.

The moment I stepped through the door, I was met with stares from every direction.

I pretended not to notice and headed straight for Human Resources to complete my handover. The whole process took less than 10 minutes.

Right on cue, my phone buzzed with a notification. My resignation had been approved.

The coworkers who had gathered near the door to watch could not resist.

"I heard Kyle approved her resignation the second it came through. Sounds like he's been wanting to kick her out for a while now. At least she had the sense to leave on her own."

"That's about the only smart thing she's got left. Did you see Anya's post? Kyle's in love with Anya, not her. And she had the nerve to walk around calling herself his girlfriend every day. Now that Anya's made it official, how could she possibly stay?"

"Exactly. Why else wouldn't she fight back? All she could do was sneak a like on the post."

I did not say a word. I was long past the point of caring. I went back to my desk and started packing up my things.

Everyone in the company knew that Anya and I did not get along. Kyle was supposed to be my boyfriend, yet he openly favored Anya at every turn. Time and again, he took her side and humiliated me in front of the entire office.

Whenever I tried to stand up for myself, they wrote it off as attention-seeking. So they fell over themselves to target me, each one hoping to score points with Anya.

Once I had packed everything, I walked out without looking back.

The moment I stepped outside the building, my phone rang.

"We received word of your resignation. Would you be interested in joining our company?

"Ms. Ether, this is the 10th time I've reached out to you. Our headquarters truly needs someone with your talent."

It took me a moment to place the voice on the other end. Then it clicked.

He was a vice president I had worked with on a previous project. His company was massive, with its headquarters in Millbrook. He had tried to recruit me several times after we wrapped up that project together, but I had turned him down every time.

Back then, I had stayed because of Kyle. I felt sorry for him, carrying the weight of the company on his own. There was already plenty of internal pushback against him, and if I left, his position would only get worse.

So I said no, again and again.

Still, Kyle never appreciated any of it. He did not even think twice about it. He downplayed my contributions at every opportunity and criticized my abilities in front of the whole office.

Yet if I were truly as incompetent as he made me out to be, the company would never have made it this far. Partners would not have been lining up to work with us.

At the end of the day, it was never about my capabilities. He simply did not care. And now, I was done believing him.

The silence stretched on, and the man on the phone asked again.

I steadied myself and answered calmly. "Yes. I accept."

We exchanged a few more words, settled on a start date, and I hung up. Then I hailed a cab and went home.

I pushed open the front door and went straight upstairs to pack. I was moving out. If I was going to end things, there was no point dragging it out.

Packing did not take long.

Looking down at the worn-out clothes and pants so faded they had turned white, it hit me just how lean these years had really been.

When we first moved in together, I had spent every dollar I had to renovate the house so he would have a place worth coming home to. I ate nothing but plain bread for 3 months just to make ends meet.

I had redesigned the entire interior to match his taste. I had spent 2 months studying color psychology so I could pick out custom furniture for him, all so he could walk through the door after work and feel at ease.

I still remembered the way his eyes had lit up when he came home and saw the finished house for the first time.

He made me a promise. "I'm going to live here for the rest of my life. No one touches this house."

His version of "the rest of my life" turned out to be painfully short. It was over before it ever really began.

Anya visited the house once and tossed out a casual remark. "The decor is so dated."

Kyle immediately called a designer to have everything redone.

When I questioned it, he snapped at me for being narrow-minded and not understanding modern aesthetics. He thought Anya obviously knew better than I did.

Then he picked up a hammer and smashed the porch swing I had spent an entire month building for him by hand.

Standing in the wreckage, I should have seen him for who he really was right then. But I had been too naive. I genuinely believed I was the one who was out of touch, that I just could not keep up with the times. So I stood by and let the two of them destroy nearly a year of my work.

Looking back now, I could not believe how foolish I had been.

Once everything was packed, I dragged my suitcase downstairs.

I stood in the empty living room and looked around the house I had lived in for nine years. Then I set the key on the coffee table, pulled my suitcase to the door, and walked out.

I took a cab straight to the apartment I had prepared as a wedding gift for Kyle.

I had handpicked this place myself. I had spent weeks negotiating with the real estate agent to get the price down, and I had carved out time to furnish and decorate it personally, all so Kyle would be happy with it when he finally saw it.

The deed had only just come through. I had been about to transfer it into Kyle's name as a symbol of our marriage. But before I could even get the words out, Anya sent me a video of their engagement ceremony.

The venue was extravagant. The guest list was overflowing, and both sets of parents were there. It was as grand and official as an engagement could get.

Kyle stood in a tailored suit, smiling as he slipped a ring onto Anya's finger.

So this was his "business trip."

I let out a hollow laugh. At least I had not said anything about the apartment yet. If I had, I truly would have had nothing left.

I got out of the cab and headed upstairs, pulling out my key to unlock the door. But no matter how much I turned it, the lock would not budge. Then the key snapped in half.

I stared at the broken piece jammed inside the lock and called a locksmith.

Once the locksmith got the door open, he glanced past me into the apartment. His brow furrowed. He gave me a long look, clearly wanting to say something but holding back.

Then he frowned and asked, "You sure this place is yours?"

I nodded.

He shook his head. "You young people really ought to keep up with the cleaning."

He gave me one last pointed look and left. I had no idea what he meant until I stepped inside.

The apartment was buried in garbage. Clothes were thrown across every surface. The custom dining table I had painstakingly picked out was covered in leftover takeout containers.

When I got closer, I could see mold growing inside them. Flies circled overhead, and the stench hit me so hard it felt like it was bouncing off the inside of my skull.

On the wall hung a large, prominently displayed couple's portrait. Kyle and Anya smiled back at me from the frame.

I clenched my fists and reached for my phone to call Kyle, but he called me first.

"Sally, did you go to the apartment?"

I bit back my anger. "Yes."

Kyle paused for a beat, then continued in that careless tone of his.

"Well, since you already know, I might as well just tell you. I lent the apartment to Anya a while back. You know how it is. She just got back to the country, she doesn't know anyone, and she needed a place to stay.

"The place was sitting empty anyway, so might as well let Anya move in and put some life into it. It makes it easier for us when we eventually move in too.

"Oh, and since you're already there, could you tidy up a bit for her? She's still young and a kid at heart. Don't hold it against her if the place is a little messy."

I glanced at the disaster zone of a floor, then up at the wall where a piece of hand-embroidered silk art had been slashed to ribbons. I said nothing.

My mother had made that piece. She had stayed up night after night for an entire year to finish it. And Anya had destroyed it like it was nothing.

I gritted my teeth. "You gave her the apartment without even asking me?"

Kyle sounded caught off guard for a second, then fired back.

"What are you throwing a fit about now?

"It's just an apartment. I only let her stay there because it's close to the office. It makes her commute easier so she can focus on contributing to the company.

"She's my junior from school. Letting her crash at the apartment for a while isn't going to kill anyone. Is this really worth getting this worked up over?

"And if you hadn't been so stubborn about refusing to let me bring Anya home with us in the first place, I never would've had to come up with this arrangement!"

My clenched fists trembled.

Kyle had once suggested bringing Anya to live with us in our house. I had put my foot down.

We had a massive fight over it, and Kyle left with Anya in tow.

I assumed he would rent her a place or put her up in a hotel. It never crossed my mind that he would hand her the apartment I had prepared for our wedding.

My parents had helped pay for that apartment. Half of the money had come from their retirement savings. And Kyle had just given it away like it meant nothing. He even let Anya change the locks.

How thoughtful of him.

When I did not respond, his voice dropped lower.

"Are you done? Look, everything I do is for our future. Anya's got an overseas education. Talent like that doesn't come around every day. If she stays with the company, our prospects are only going to get brighter."