The Beat to my Stolen Heart (a SuperM x Reader story)

Critic

Word count: 1019

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"Are you done yet?" Lucas groaned, shaking Y/N's chair lightly by the back.

"I told you, you are free to go. I have all the recordings I need from you on this track."

"Well then can we record a different one? I'm bored."

"Like I just said, you should probably leave. I need to finish mixing this, and then I'd honestly like to go work on the other tracks too. It will literally take hours. You should know that, how long have you been training, now?"

"I agree with her, we should go." Taemin interrupted. "Plus, she's not going to finish any quicker if we're here."

"Mark's the one that wanted us to stay." Kai pointed out. "Not her."

"Alright! Alright! Fine! Stop complaining!" Mark collected the group, turning back to Y/N. "Look, why don't we all go out and have lunch to celebrate? You deserve it! We've made a ton of ground in just one day!"

"You're not gonna get me with the same trick twice." She reprimanded him. "I may love food, but I'm not going to mess this job up." Sighing, Bakehyun jumped off from where he was standing on one of the chairs. (No one really questioned anything he did anymore).

"Come on, we'll see her later, some of us have to come back anyway."

"I don't." Taemin pointed out. "What are you coming back for?"

"Just an EXO meeting with me and Kai."

"EXO's still active?" Mark asked with a huge smile on his face. Hitting him in the arm, Baekhyun argued,

"Not all of us are in fifty groups."

"Boys!" Y/N demanded, pointing at the screen. "Please!"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, let's go." Mark grumbled, leaving the room first, the others trailing behind him. "Taemin, are you coming?" He yelled. Looking up from the mixer, she realized that he was indeed the only one left in the booth.

"Just a minute." He called back. "I'll catch up." He looked at her with a strange passivity as he waited for the group's footsteps to slowly fade away. As soon as he was sure of their absence, he was the first to speak.

"You're looking at me strangely."

"Me?" She immediately defended. "You're the one who stayed here. And you're the one just staring."

"Not right now. Before."

"No I wasn't."

"I assume he told you, then?" He continued without even acknowledging her denial.

"Huh?"

"The CEO. He told you."

"Oh..." She didn't know if he was actually aware, or he was just bluffing, but she saw no reason to lie. "Yeah, he did."

"And is there a problem with that?" She was now thoroughly confused, trying to figure out what to say. It wasn't helping that his demeanor was disorienting- ever since he had met her, he'd been stiff and emotionless, but everything she'd heard about him up to that point had suggested he'd be... well, fun.

"What do you mean, problem? I just don't know why you'd go out of your way to get me this job. You've never even heard my music, you still haven't. For all you know, I could be awful. At least if it were Mark, they could attribute it to his age, or Lucas his inexperience, but with you, it would be a big mistake. Granted, you're one of the ones who was most likely to get it through to begin with, but it doesn't add up."

"Let me hear it then." He said with a slight raise of his shoulders. He just wasn't going to address any of the other comments? Or tell her why he had bothered to help her in the first place? Not sure what to say, he held out a hand, beckoning for the headphones. Reluctantly, she passed them over, rewinding to the beginning as he slipped them over his ears, ruffling the smooth order of his hair a bit. She pressed play, singing along with the slight sound bleed so she could keep track of where he was.

He nodded a few times, eyes flitting around the room, although he wasn't particularly looking at anything. She tried to gauge his reaction to the piece, but his features gave nothing away. He didn't seem particularly excited about it, but not upset either. Once it had wrapped up, he softly slipped the device off his head, handing it back to her with a gentle drop.

"So?" She asked, waiting for his commentary.

"So... thank you for letting me hear it." Growing more exasperated by the second, she leaned back, rolling her eyes.

"That's it? Did you not like it? Were there parts you have things to say about?"

"It's your music, I'm not going to say anything."

"Are you kidding?" She groaned. "Why did you even want to hear it then?"

"You said that I had no right to recommend you without hearing your work. So, now I've heard it. Are you happy?"

"I mean..." She sighed. "That isn't really what I meant, but-"

"Taemin!" Mark's voice said again, leaning his head around the corner. He had come back to get his friend. "It's been like ten minutes, man, Kai's about to leave you here." How had they not noticed him running down the hall? Had Taemin been too focused on the song? Or her?

"Sorry, I'm coming." He stood, following Mark out, only turning to bow politely. She breathed out in a long, extended release, trying to make sense of everything that was happening. Six songs... that might be half of a smaller album. It was definitely better than she could have oped for, and if she impressed them on it, maybe she could do more. Still, Taemin hadn't seemed too pleased. Then again, it was basically impossible to tell. She really knew nothing about them- online videos weren't exactly adequate, as most idols were avid at acting as well.

In a spur of the moment decision, she picked up her phone, clicking into her contacts. Waiting for the buzzing to turn into audio, she held the device up to her ear.

"Hey, Mark. I changed my mind- where are you?"