She opens the washroom door slightly after an hour and checks if Adheer is still in the room. After looking around, she realizes he's not there and steps out, wearing a stunning red saree that accentuates her beauty. Her wet hair drips water, and her face glows with a radiant complexion

She quickly gets ready and goes downstairs, only to find that Adheer is nowhere to be found. Her eyes search for him everywhere, and just then, Adheer's mother approaches her.

She says, 'Beta, today is your first rasoi "

She sweetly replies, 'Yes, mom'.

She said her, 'Don't make too much, just make something sweet, the chef will take care of the rest'.

She gives me her cutest sad face and asks, 'Mom, do you think I'm a kitchen disaster?'

She replies, 'No, beta (child), it's not like that'

She makes puppy eyes and says, 'Maa, please give me another chance?'

She smiles and graciously grants her permission.

As soon as she enters the kitchen, she sees that there are some packets kept there and a note too.

She picks up the note and starts reading...

'My dear bhabhi, don't worry too much, we've ordered all the food. Just heat it up after a while and bring it, and tell everyone you made it.

Your beloved devar's 😊❤️

A smile appears on her face, but then she realizes that this would be wrong.

She thinks to herself, 'I told mom so lovingly that I would make all the food, but when they find out that it's actually from outside and I didn't make it, my brothers-in-law will feel bad, and they'll think I'm lying. And what if mom feels hurt too?'

Whenever Mahir comes to the kitchen and sees Kaya lost in thought, he asks, 'What's wrong, bhabhi? Are you okay? Do you need any help?'

She hesitates to speak, so he comes closer to her and says, 'I told you, that I'm your brother? So, won't a sister share her problems with her brother?'

Finally, she tells him, 'Mahir Bhai, look at this. My brothers-in-law had already ordered food so I wouldn't have to cook, but I told mom that I would make all the food. If I don't make it and take this instead, mom will feel bad, and if I don't take this, my brothers-in-law will feel bad'

Mahir says with a smile, 'So what's the problem? Let's do one thing - we'll give this food to some poor person outside so that their hunger is satisfied and the food doesn't go to waste. And we'll make the food that was ordered, so both things will be taken care of, won't they?'

She says happily, 'Mahir Bhai, you are even more helpful than Aladdin's genie!'

Both of them share a laugh for a few moments, and Mahir feels extremely happy in his heart that because of him, a smile has appeared on Kaya's face.

When she says to Mahir, 'Let's go, I'll make the food'

Mahir interrupts her mid-sentence, 'Not I, we'

She asks hesitantly, 'Do you know how to cook?'

He replies with a smile, 'I may not know how to cook, but I can definitely help, and you can't say no to me!'

"Come on, tell me, what's to be made?" he asks her.

They both discuss and start making food, and in half an hour, all the food is ready, except for the dessert. Just then, Mahir playfully puts a little flour on her cheeks and clicks her pictures.

Then he playfully teases her, saying that when I become an uncle, he'll show this picture to my niece/nephew and tell them that their mom was once so small, she looked like a little rabbit!

When she hears 'rabbit' from his mouth, she gets very angry and says in anger, 'My height is short, what does that mean that you'll make fun of me? I'm not a rabbit!'

He laughs seeing her anger and says 'Oh no, my little rabbit got upset' and pulls her cheeks.

He was watching the two of them from a distance, and somewhere deep down, he was feeling a pang of jealousy.

He goes behind the Mahir and stands there, placing his hand on his shoulder, and as soon as he turns back, air gets stuck in his throat, somehow.

He asks him with his eyes, through gestures.

He stammers fearfully asked" what"

He asks him out of the corner of his eye, 'What are you doing here?'

He stammers again, 'I...I...I came to get a drink of water.'

He asks with a raised eyebrow, 'Did you drink water?'

He stammers while answering, 'Y-yes, I drank it,' and then quickly says, 'I'm leaving,' and runs away.

After he's gone, he catches a glimpse of kaya, who was trying to avoid his gaze.

He silently grabs a drink from the freezer and starts gulping down the water. As he's drinking, his gaze inadvertently shifts to her waist, and some water spills down his neck, startling him and making him look up at her.

He's looking away, muttering to himself, 'Adheer Shekawat, your mind is getting increasingly filthy'

He would have left after putting the bottle in the freezer, but his gaze falls on her one more time.

But this time, he can't stop himself and walks towards her with slow, deliberate steps, and starts tracing his fingers on her waist, sending shivers down her spine.

he whispers in her ear, 'What are you doing, wife?'

"She stammers while replying, '... I-I-I... am making kheer.'"

As soon as she says that, he gently bites her earlobe, which makes her moan.

He turns towards her, gently caresses her cheek with his hand, and softly rubs his fingers over her lips.

He slowly moves towards her lips, and she closes her eyes in anticipation.

Suddenly, for some unknown reason, he stops and looks at her. Her eyes are closed. He then gently kisses her forehead. As she feels his lips, she opens her eyes and gazes at him, entranced. He tenderly caresses her cheek, speaking lovingly, ' blush looks beautiful on these cheeks, not flour.'

He walks out of the kitchen and she gets so engrossed that she mistakenly picks up the salt container instead of sugar and adds it to the kheer without even looking.

______________________________________________

On the other side, Adheer steps out of the kitchen, smoothing his hair with one hand, and asks himself, 'What the hell, Adheer Shekawat, what were you doing? On one hand, you're convincing her that you love her and won't do anything without her consent, and on the other hand, you're doing things with her that she might not even enjoy. This is terribly wrong; we can't do this.

His darker self whispers, 'You have every right to do whatever you want with her, Adheer. She's your wife, after all. You'll have to exert your control over her eventually, so why wait?'

Exactly then his goodest self kicks in, reminding him that "she's his wife, not a slave who'll obey his every command. She has her own free will, and he can't force her to do something against her wishes. Adheer, be patient; you claim to love her, not just her physical body. She'll come around to accepting you, if not today, then someday soon."

His darker self emerges and speaks up, 'Until then, someone else will catch her eye, and she'll leave you for him. Only then will you be left with nothing but regret, and that's when you'll realize there's no other way.'

He replied to his darker self, 'If that happens, I'll personally take her to him, the one she loves. Whether she loves me or not, whether she takes me or not, my love for her will remain forever. Till now, I've only loved her, and I'll continue to do so. Now it's up to her whether she wants me in her life or not, but she'll always be a part of mine, my first and last love.'

He finishes speaking and walks to the dining room, sitting down and continuing to think about the same thing until his wife brings food from the kitchen to the dining room.

Yuvraj, seeing the food, says out of hunger, 'Bhabhi (sister-in-law), serve the food quickly, I'm extremely hungry.'

Prisha teases him, saying, 'First, feed this Kumbhakarna (a reference to a hungry giant from Hindu mythology); this poor fellow has been starving for ages.'

The entire family laughs at her words, and poor Yuvraj, embarrassed, quietly sits down with his mouth shut.

Kaya serves food to everyone, starting with Adheer's grandfather, Dada Ji. As he eats, he praises Kaya's cooking, saying, 'Wow, what a delicious meal! Annapurna (the goddess of food) herself would be impressed by our daughter-in-law's cooking skills!'

As soon as they hear this, the faces of the boys of the house light up with smiles, because they were thinking that the food was what they had ordered.

Just then, Shravan whispers to Yuvraj, 'For the first time, your idea actually worked!'

Hearing Shravan's comment, Vivan chimes in, 'Otherwise, his ideas always land us in trouble!'

Irritated by their teasing, Yuvraj said them, 'Just shut up! Because of me, Bhabhi is so happy, see how everyone is praising her!'

Their conversation reaches Arohi's ears, and she asks them, 'What's going on, what's all the whispering about among you guys?'

As soon as she asks the question, Pratham says to Kaya, 'Bhabhi, serve her falke( variety of  chapathi in rajasthan), she hasn't eaten anything yet.'

Angad gently carres her hair ,saying, 'Sister, you've become so thin, eat something!'

Hearing this, Pihu retorts, 'You're the one who always says Arohi di has gotten too fat and she should eat less!'

Irritated by her comment, he says, 'And now I'm telling you, just eat quietly and stop arguing!'

She starts eating quietly, and noticing his mood, Kaira moves closer to his and asks, 'Bro, are you getting your periods?'

Hearing her strange question, he bursts out angering loudly and says, 'Have you gone crazy? Why would I get periods?!'

Just then, Dada Ji says in a strict tone, 'No talking while eating!'

They all fall silent and continue eating their meal.After some time, they all finish eating, and now it's time for dessert. Dadi ji says, 'Okay, let's serve kheer to everyone, Beta (to kaya), please bring it.'

She was about to serve the kheer to Dada ji first, but Dadi ji interrupts and says, 'First give it to your husband, he'll eat it first. Give him the sweetness of your hands, feed him with your own hands.'

She follows Dadi's instructions and feeds Adheer the kheer from the bowl. As soon as he takes a spoonful, he realizes that she has mistakenly added salt instead of sugar. He silently finishes the entire bowl of kheer.

Just as she was about to serve the kheer to Dada ji, Adheer snatches the bowl from her and starts drinking it. The entire family is shocked to see him doing this. Mahir says, 'Hey, what's wrong with you? We're also here!' But Adheer ignores him and finishes the entire bowl of kheer.

After finishing the kheer, he puts the empty bowl on the table. Seeing the empty bowl, Mahir chases after him, saying, 'You bastard tadhakasur! (Demon )You're a hungry demon for seven lifetimes! Aren't you ashamed? Bhabhi made something sweet for the first time, and you finished it all!'

He also runs out of the house to save his life, because he knew that Mahir and everyone else wouldn't spare him now.

Seeing them like this, the entire family bursts out laughing. Then, Surekha says, 'These two will never grow out of their childhood!'

Brinda says, laughing, 'Look at Adheer, how much he's changed! Before marriage, he wouldn't even touch kheer, and today, he couldn't resist the kheer made by his wife's hands!'

Then Suhani says, 'This is the effect of our daughter's love, which has changed our Adheer so much.'

Kaya smiles and notices that there's a little kheer left in the bowl. She thinks to herself, 'Adheer  ji doesn't even like kheer, so did I really make it that good that he finished the whole thing?'

Thinking that, she tastes a little of the kheer, and as soon as she eats it, her face contorts in disgust. It has so much salt in it that it's not edible for anyone. Her eyes well up with tears.

______________________________________________

Kaya was sitting in her room, feeling sad and upset that because of her, Adheer had eaten that bitter kheer, and tears were welling up in her eyes.

Just then, Adheer enters the room and sees tears in her eyes, which makes him panic. He rushes to her side and starts asking, 'What happened? Why are you crying, Ocean? Did someone say something to you?'

She starts crying even more and hugs him tightly.

He gently loosens the hug and asks, 'What happened? Tell me, please.'

Instantly, her small nose scrunches up in anger, and she asks him sternly, 'Tell me, why did you do that?'

He is startled by her sudden stern expression and, with fear in his voice, asks, 'What did I do, Ocean? Forgive me, I didn't do anything, did I?'

Then, she asks him lovingly, 'Tell me, why did you eat that kheer? It had so much salt, it was so bitter!'

He replies lovingly, 'The one who said it was bitter, for me, it was the sweetest kheer in the world.'

She becomes emotional and says to him, 'You don't even like kheer...'

Looking into her eyes, he lovingly says, '

'Apke haatho se toh zehra bhi manjoor hai hume'

(Even poison would be acceptable to me if it's made by your hands.)

Tears well up in her eyes, and she asks him, 'Have you gone crazy?'

He smiles and replies, 'Yes, I have gone crazy, in your love.'

I hope you all liked this chapter and please don't forget to review.