I continued stirring around the chili oil as Rex helped me prepare glass jars to store the oil in. Once the oil was sufficiently cooled down, we each took a spoon and started scooping the oil into the jars. The two of us were tearing up from the fumes of the spices and chili, but I told him it was normal, and it was good for clearing a stuffy nose.

After we finished, I told Rex to lick off his spoon so that he could give it a taste as I capped the jars.

"I wouldn't eat too much of it at once though," I warned him, knowing his tolerance to spice was probably abysmal.

"Why not? Isn't it just a topping of some kind?" He asked.

"Well... yeah," I struggled to come up with a way to explain the concept of capsaicin to someone who was barely used to eating black peppercorns in his food. "Just give it a try and let me know what you think of it!"

Rex, against my advice, put the entire spoon in his mouth and ate all of the leftover chili oil in one go. Immediately, his eyes widened and started to water.

"It's burning!" he yelled, rushing for the sink.

"I told you not to eat too much!" I yelled back, hurriedly turning on the water for him.

He scooped water into his mouth with his hands repeatedly, trying to wash out the oil, but it was too late.

"What in the world is that!? Some kind of poison!? Who would ever eat something like that!?" He asked in between his gulps of water.

Watching him, I couldn't help but laugh, but when he glared at me, I immediately shut my mouth.

"It's not poison. It's perfectly safe to eat. And the more you eat it, the more you'll get used to the burning feeling," I explained.

It took him another minute of rinsing his mouth to finally speak normally.

"How did you like the taste?" I asked.

"What taste!?" he complained. "All I tasted was pain and fire!"

I laughed at his statement, but replied, "Don't tell anyone else about this okay? Imagine their reactions when they try it themselves for the first time."

He paused, thinking about it as a devious grin slowly appeared on his face.

"Alright, I won't tell anyone else, but in return you have to make sure I'm there to see their reactions when they eat it," he bargained.

"Agreed."

We shook hands on the deal.

"Speaking of which, you haven't even tried it yourself yet, why don't you give it a taste too? Just eat whatever is left on your spoon," he suggested.

"Alright," I said, lifting up the spoon I set down earlier and licking it off. My tongue wasn't used to the burn, but mentally, I was prepared, and didn't have any outward reactions, shocking Rex.

"How long does it take to build up a tolerance to this chili?" He demanded answers from me.

I just shrugged, cleaning the spoon and setting it down to dry.

"You just have to keep eating it every day, I guess!"