Paranoia || Naruto Uzumaki ||

Paranoia || Naruto Uzumaki || Chapter 22

The crisp air felt cool against Melanie's skin. She tugged at her sweater, hating the way it rested against her neck. Brunch was usually one of the things that she looked forward to each week, even if it was filled with gossip and petty drama.

"Earth to Melanie," a perfectly manicured hand waved in front of her face breaking Melanie out of her thoughts. She turned to look at the group, growing suspicious of all their smirks.

"Stare any longer and you might as well take off his clothes here and now," Vicky teased, lowering her sunglasses just enough to give Melanie a pointed look.

She turned her head ever so slightly to see what, or more like who, she had been staring at. It was a waiter, not their usual waiter, one she hadn't seen before. An argument could be made that she was staring at the way his white shirt stretched across his chest and arms and how his black pants hugged his lower half just enough to warrant staring. That was clearly what the group thought, but Melanie had been distracted by his blonde hair catching the light.

"Trouble in paradise?" Sierra asked, a little too eagerly, Melanie thought.

Sierra was the wife of another scientist at Orochimaru, Inc., one who hadn't amounted to much in the time he worked there and was on the verge of being fired. When Kabuto showed up as a star scientist, Sierra saw in Melanie what her life should have been. Sierra had married for the money and prestige, to be the trophy wife to someone important, not someone mediocre.

It was no secret Sierra hadn't given up on her dream of prestige.

She openly bragged about sleeping with numerous scientists and assistants at the lab. Anyone she thought was up and coming, hoping to ride the coattails of their success. One of the few people she hadn't been able to bag yet was Kabuto and not for a lack of trying. Sierra's advances on him, was something Kabuto liked to remind Melanie of when she would deny his advances.

Melanie wished she could tell them to go for it.

A lightbulb went off in Melanie's mind like a box of fireworks. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner?

"Well?" Tami asked, taking a long sip of her mimosa.

Melanie let out a dramatic sigh. "I guess you could say that there's been trouble." She cast a purposefully longing look at the waiter.

"Go on," Sierra grabbed her hand, squeezing it. "This is a safe space." The look on her face played right into Melanie's idea. Sierra wanted Kabuto, or at least the prestige she thought would come with having him and Kabuto wanted something Melanie wasn't going to give up.

She was about to play their desires like a fiddle.

"Everything stays between us, right?" The trio nodded. Melanie pulled her hand away, covering her face as if ashamed. She was winging it and had to word things just right. "We haven't been intimate in months."

The table stayed quiet, their silence begging Melanie to elaborate. "Before we moved here, things were great. I'm talking romance novels, movies, you name it, it was that great if not better." Melanie shivered, trying to hide the disgust she felt. "Then we moved here and nothing. I feel like I'm going crazy. I've tried everything to get his attention back"

She chanced a sneak peek from behind her fingers. The three women were trading glances and Melanie slightly worried they weren't as phased as she needed them to be. Finally, Vicky took pity on her. "You poor thing. No wonder you're undressing Mr. Tall and Handsome over there."

She put down her hands, giving them what she hoped was a distraught look. "I think he's got eyes for someone else, someone at his work." Melanie watched from the corner of her eye as Sierra's face lit up.