Love Ended First

"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."