60. Kitchen Disaster
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"Do I need to add milk in maida or maida in milk?"
I asked bhai while staring at my phone screen which Yugant was holding in front of my face like a cameraman.
"Add two cups of maida in one cup of milk," bhai instructed from the other side of the call, sounding way too serious for someone teaching gulab jamun. "and mix it properly without making any lumps."
"Okayyy," I dragged the word out while pouring the ingredients into the bowl.
Yugant zoomed the phone closer to the bowl. "Show him properly. He thinks we're in the MasterChef finals."
"At least one person here wants edible food," bhai muttered.
I gasped. "Rude."
"Keep your hand slow," bhai continued, "and handle it gently, just don't throw the bowl down."
And exactly at that moment, the bowl slipped from my hands. The bowl rolled across the counter.
I lunged forward. "OH SHIT-"
Yugant tried catching it while still holding the phone.
The phone smacked against my forehead.
The bowl hit the edge of the counter... and shattered on the floor with a loud crash.
Silence.
Complete silence.
Then bhai's voice exploded from the phone speaker. "What was THAT?"
I stared at the floor in horror. "The bowl died."
"Why the fuck did you say handle it gently when she was already doing that?" Yugant snapped at bhai instantly, looking personally offended by the bowl's death.
"Stop shouting your throat out," bhai barked back. "I was just instructing my sister."
"And your instructions killed the bowl!"
"How is that my fault?"
"You distracted her!"
"She gets distracted by oxygen too!"
"HELLO?" I yelled between them. "I AM STILL HERE."
Yugant rubbed his forehead in frustration before looking at the broken bowl.
"I'm hanging up," bhai said frustrated already. "You two are hopeless."
Before I could argue, the call disconnected.
I folded my arms and looked at Yugant. "This is your fault."
"My fault?" He pointed at himself in disbelief. "You dropped the bowl!"
"Because you shoved the phone into my face!"
"Excuse me! You attacked the bowl like it owed you money!"
I grabbed a handful of dry maida and threw it at him.
His jaw dropped. "Dhwani."
For two seconds, he just stared at me then he slowly bent down, picked up a fist of maida, and smiled dangerously.
I immediately backed away. "Yugant... don't."
"Oh, now suddenly you want peace?"
The next thing I knew, flour exploded all over me.
I screamed while coughing. "YUGANT... YOU PSYCHO!"
He laughed so hard he had to hold the counter for support while the kitchen looked less like a cooking space and more like a crime scene attacked by bakery products.
I felt fed up. I couldn't even make one simple dish.
"What will we give Dadi and Dadu to eat now?" I asked while looking up at Yugant.
He pushed his messy hair back with his fingers and shook his head. "I told you, it's difficult."
Yeah, it is difficult. Too difficult. But I seriously didn't need a reality check right now.
Before I could say that out loud, Dadi's voice came from outside the kitchen.
"If you both are done fighting in the kitchen, then come out and have breakfast."
I blinked.
Sorry what? Breakfast?
I looked at Yugant in confusion, but even he frowned slightly and shrugged like he had no idea either.
I dusted flour off my clothes and let out a slow breath. Maybe I was about to get scolded. Honestly, fair enough. The kitchen looked destroyed.
Yugant reached out and held my arm gently. "Come. Let's go eat first."
I nodded because, truthfully, I was starving. It was almost eleven in the morning, and half the delay happened because of mister chef. I mean If you know you know.
As soon as we entered the dining room, we saw Dadi, Dadu, and Dhrithika already sitting at the table waiting for us.
My eyes immediately fell on the table full of food. Poha, sandwiches, kachoris, oats tea... basically an entire breakfast buffet.
I looked at Dadi slowly. "These...?"
She understood the question instantly.
"I ordered breakfast from the restaurant today because I already knew you both wouldn't be able to cook anything."
Yugant chuckled while pulling a chair for me before sitting beside me.
"We can cook, Dadi," he argued. But he doesn't mean cooking at all.
"Yes, I can clearly see that." Dadi looked at both of us from head to toe.
I followed her gaze and mentally died. Flour on clothes, hair messy, and my sleeve literally covered in maida.
I looked down in embarrassment. This all happened because of him.
Yugant noticed my expression and instead of helping, the idiot winked at me shamelessly.
Dhrithika burst out laughing. "Looks like Dadi's granddaughter-in-law fought a WWE match with the flour instead of cooking."
I glared at her. "Very funny."
"Yeah. Even Dadi's granddaughter doesn't know cooking properly. If granddaughter-in-law also can't cook, then it's hardly a national issue."
Dhrithika gasped. "Dadi betrayed me for bhabhi?"
"Truth is truth," Dadu said while hiding his smile behind the newspaper.
Yugant looked way too pleased hearing Dadi defend me.
Meanwhile, Dhrithika pointed at him accusingly. "And bhaiya looks suspiciously happy for someone who failed at making gulab jamun."
Yugant picked up poha. "At least I survived the kitchen."
I instantly kicked his leg under the table.
He coughed mid-bite and looked at me in disbelief while everyone else started laughing.
I took the bowl of oats and had barely put a spoonful into my mouth when Dadi's voice reached me again.
"Dhwani?"
I quickly swallowed and looked at her. "Yes, Dadi?"
She folded her hands on the table softly, her expression calm as always. There wasn't even a hint of judgment on her face. Just warmth.
"I just want to tell you something," she said gently. "You don't need to do things just to please others."
For a second, I didn't understand what she meant.
Then it clicked.
"You mean... cooking?"
She nodded while taking a small sip of tea. "It can be cooking or anything else." Her voice stayed soft, patient. "You don't need to force yourself to learn something just because you think it'll make us happy."
I stayed silent, listening carefully.
"Even Dhrithika doesn't know proper cooking," Dadi continued casually, earning an offended gasp from Dhrithika. "And that's completely okay. We're humans, not machines. Nobody can be perfect at everything."
Dadu hummed in agreement while continuing to eat his breakfast peacefully.
I looked down at my bowl a little awkwardly. "I just... felt like I should do something for all of you."
Ehhh... I don't know what has happened to me since I married Yugant. I was never like this.
"And you already do," she replied gently.
"Your presence, your care, your respect... those things matter more than perfectly round gulab jamuns. All you need to do is take care of Yugant. That's enough for us. You don't owe this family some test of perfection. He accepts you as you are, and we have no right to change that personality."
Her words were simple, but the way she said them made something inside me loosen quietly.
"You should do things for us only when you genuinely want to," she continued. "Not because you feel pressured that you should. There is a difference between love and pressure. Never confuse the two."
The dining table had gone unusually quiet by then.
I don't know why, but hearing that made my chest feel strangely warm. Because most people don't say things like that.
Most people expect.
Dadi understood.
And maybe that's why her words touched deeper than she even realized.
I felt Yugant's hand quietly squeeze mine beneath the table.
When I looked at him, he simply gave me a small look as if silently telling me to stop overthinking everything all the time.
For once, I actually wanted to listen.
"Yes, Dadi, I understood," I finally said softly.
She smiled at me warmly, the kind of smile that instantly made things feel lighter.
After that, everyone slowly went back to eating again, the earlier chaos fading into normal conversations.
"When are we throwing the reception for bhaiya and bhabhi?" Dhrithika asked excitedly while stuffing a piece of sandwich into her mouth. "I'm already excited for shopping."
Oh God. Not again.
That meant another heavy lehenga, painful jewellery, and people staring nonstop. Honestly, it sounded more exhausting than exciting.
"Yugant and Dhwani should decide that," Dadu said while looking at both of us.
"We?" Yugant blinked before looking between his family and me. "I mean... we didn't really talk about this yet." Then he looked at me. "We'll let you know soon, right?"
I nodded slightly. "Yeah."
Dhrithika groaned. "Don't take forever. I need time for outfit planning."
"You already have enough clothes to open a showroom," Yugant muttered while eating.
"And you have enough attitude to get banned from one bhaiya."
Dadu laughed under his breath while Dadi shook her head helplessly at their fighting.
Yugant slowly leaned slightly closer to me and whispered near my ear, "Don't start overthinking already."
I immediately looked at him suspiciously. "How do you even know I'm overthinking?"
He looked at me lazily. "Your eyebrows do this weird thing."
"My eyebrows?"
"Hm." He nodded seriously. "They start looking personally offended at life."
I stared at him for two seconds before muttering, "I hate you."
He grinned without missing a beat. "No, you don't."
After breakfast, Yugant left for the office because apparently mister businessman had some very important meeting.
Meanwhile, I wanted to complete my painting, but the ultramarine blue shade had finished. And that color was literally important for depth, shadows, sky blending, and fine detailing. Without it, my canvas looked incomplete and weirdly flat.
So the first thing I did after breakfast was change my clothes.