At the annual company raffle, I had barely stepped onto the stage when my supervisor, Lily Smith, pressed a crumpled slip of paper into my palm.

"A special reward for our top salesperson," she chirped. "Go ahead, open it. Let everyone see."

Under the eager gaze of the crowd, I unfolded the note. Written in messy handwriting were the words: Clean the company toilets for three days.

The room erupted in laughter.

Lily folded her arms, cocked her head, and smirked at me.

"Nice, right?" she said. "Everyone knows those sales of yours came from sleeping with old men. Dirty money. To keep things fair, the others get a break, and you pick up a little extra work. You don't have a problem with that, do you?"

The laughter surged again, nearly lifting the roof.

From the side of the room, my boyfriend, Seth Hoffman, the company's CEO, watched everything unfold. As usual, he said nothing in my defense.

They all thought I would fall apart, cry, or make a scene.

Instead, I simply gave a calm nod.

The very next day, the company was hit with over three hundred property cancellations. Its cash flow collapsed overnight.

That was when Lily and Seth rushed to me, demanding I go plead with the buyers.

I smiled and said,

"No thanks. I wouldn't want to help the company recover and end up with strong numbers again. That might make everyone even more uncomfortable."

The room went dead quiet when I said I would take the prize, but that quiet did not last.

A second later, laughter thundered through the air. Lily Smith was the loudest, doubling over with tears streaming from her eyes.

"How else could she be the top seller?" she cackled. "A woman like her has to have skin as thick as a rhino."

I ignored her snide comments and kept my cool.

"Just to be clear," I said, "since the company so generously 'rewarded' me with bathroom duty, that's all I'll be doing for the next three days. Everything else is off my plate."

Lily paused, her smile faltering. She had not seen that coming.

Well, it was year-end, and I had already smashed our sales goals. The only thing left was for our clients to finish up their payments, and we would be golden.

By stepping back from sales, I was practically gifting Lily millions in deals!

She must have thought I had gone bonkers with rage because she agreed without a second thought.

"Alright, you're off the hook," she said. "The sales team isn't a one-person show. You think we can't spin without you?

"Just stick to scrubbing toilets for the next few days. Spot a single hair, and you're out!"

I did not bother with a comeback. I just walked away, pulled out my phone, and shot a message to my client list.

[Big news, I'm being shuffled around. Hold off on those bank payments and stay tuned for my next move.]

Before I could pocket my phone, Seth Hoffman's text popped up.

[Drop by my office. We need to talk.]

I tossed my phone aside like it was nothing. I had bigger fish to fry.

We fell for each other back in our college days, and after we tossed our caps, Seth convinced me to ditch a job that would have made me a millionaire, so we could build something from the ground up together.

He promised me that once our little startup hit the jackpot of 150 million, we would tie the knot for real.

I bought into his tall tales, pouring my heart and soul into the company, only to be sidelined and squashed down time and time again.

Lily was a newbie, barely three months in, and her numbers were peanuts compared to mine.

However, Seth was all starry-eyed over her fancy international background and her time abroad, so he skipped right over me and handed her the sales director crown.

Me? I was the sales champ three years running, and what did I get? The 'glorious' job of scrubbing toilets for three days.

With eyes all around me–some pitying, some just there for the drama–I headed to the janitor's closet and suited up for battle with the mop and bucket.

I was about to dive into the trenches, the bathrooms, when a voice stopped me.

"Janice, hold up!"

…

It was Seth.

He had always played the stranger card with me at work, but this was a first, calling me out in front of everyone.

He came at me with this icy look, towering over me like he owned the place.

"Why didn't you show up at the office when I called you?"

I did not bother with excuses and just hit him with his own favorite brush-off. "Swamped with work. No time for calls."

That line, his go-to move to blow me off, coming from me? Well, it kind of knocked the wind out of him.

"Is this really worth getting all worked up over?" he asked.

He checked to make sure we were alone before letting out a sigh and dialing back the frost in his voice. "Look, I get it. You're upset about the reward Lily gave you, and you're also mad at me for not backing you up in front of everyone.

"However, she's the sales director I just put in charge of, and she's actually been boosting our numbers big time. I couldn't just sing your praises and knock her hustle in front of the whole crew. You've gotta see where I'm coming from, right?"

"You know as well as I do that it's not a reward. It's just plain bullying and humiliation!" I cut him off before he could finish, my voice icy. "Do you really think our sales numbers are up because Lily lounges in the office all day, sipping bubble tea and chilling in the AC?

"Without me hustling through storms, racing to meet clients, so slammed I skip meals, do you think we'd have closed even one deal in this tough market?"

Seth's face fell at my fierce questioning.

"Janice, don't get too cocky, acting like you're the sole hero of Hoffman Real Estate!

"Without Lily's cozy winter promos, do you think we'd have this crowd of house hunters? You're just riding on her coattails. Don't play the saint with me. It's pathetic!"

He dropped that bomb and strutted off before I could fire back.

I could hardly believe my ears that such boneheaded words came from the man I have loved for years.

His so-called 'cozy winter promos' were just a table with free cups of cheap black coffee and some giveaway gloves out front. The coffee often went cold, untouched, and those gloves ended up in the street bin.

However, Seth, of course, thought they were pure gold. Somehow, I was the one cashing in on Lily's ideas!

All those years, I have kept quiet about my own sweat just to spare his pride.

I thought anyone with a heart could see my grind, my dedication. I just never imagined he could be so blind, so heartless, to just erase all I have done like that!

At that moment, any last bit of hesitation I felt about leaving Seth vanished.

I tossed the mop and gloves aside with a flick of my wrist and said with an icy edge, "Alright. If you really think Lily's the only one holding this place together, then I quit. We're done. Let's just call it quits and move on!"

…

In all the years we had been together, I had never once raised my voice to Seth, much less talked about breaking up.

Hearing my words, Seth looked like he could not believe his ears, his eyes boring into me.

"Janice, are you out of your mind? Do you even hear yourself?

"We're so close to the hundred fifty-million goal I set before I'd propose. Just three hundred more orders to go, and once they're in the bank, we'll have made it.

"If you screw this up now, don't expect me to give you another chance!"

I was done talking. I walked out of the company and did not look back.

I had barely slipped off my shoes at home when my phone erupted with the shrill sound of a call. It was my mom, and she was laying into me the second I picked up.

"Janice, what's gotten into you? Did you fight with Seth? Listen to me, go apologize to him, now!

"You wouldn't be where you are without him. Don't bite the hand that feeds you!"

Her voice was getting more piercing by the second. "Seth's a catch, and he's put up with you for twelve years. You should count your blessings!

"Now you've gone and made him mad. Do you think anyone else will want you? The best thing a woman can do is marry well. Go make it right, set a date for the wedding. That's what matters, not this nonsense you're pulling!

"Without Seth, you're nothing!"

I gripped the phone, barely holding back laughter.

Since we started going out, Seth had always known just how to charm my mom with little gifts and money. She saw him as some kind of hero and would always tell me to stay in line.

She must have gotten some kind of sweet deal to rush over and play peacemaker without even bothering to ask what the whole mess was about.

I kept my cool, did not bother with excuses or arguments, and just waited for her to run out of steam before I ended the call.

The phone screen was still glowing when I hit up the client group chat and dropped the bomb.

[Hey everyone, I'm thinking of leaving Hoffman Real Estate. If you need anything property-related down the line, I'm still your go-to.]

No sooner had I sent the message than the chat blew up.

[Janice, you're bailing on us? What about the house we locked down? You're the only one I trust. Handing me off to someone else? No way!]

[Seriously, we came to Hoffman 'cause of you. You're out, we're out!]

[Doesn't matter where you land–we're right behind you. Hoffman is nothing without your magic touch!]

[My paperwork's still up in the air, Janice. Wherever you set up shop, count me in. Just tell me what to do, and it's done!]

The chat was a flood of support. Not a single doubt in sight, just pure, unconditional trust.

12 years of giving it my all, and Seth could not see the worth in that.

However, those folks did not miss a thing. They remembered every bit of heart I put into helping them.

It turned out that it was not about my sincerity being wasted; it was Seth who did not deserve it.

Drying my eyes, I typed back into the chat. [Thanks for all the love and trust, guys. I'll let you know where I'm headed as soon as I figure it out!]

…

Just as I was soaking in all that warmth, a message from an unknown number popped up, a headhunter by the looks of it.

[Hey there, Ms. Stewart. We've been keeping an eye on your stellar rep in the biz. Heard you're thinking about quitting, so we're reaching out with an offer to join our team. We're talking double your current paycheck, and you get to pick your title. Interested in chatting more?]

I shot back a [We'll talk later,] and shut off my phone.

I lay awake all night, but weirdly, I was not tired at all.