I doubt if it could be considered grooming tbh. Keil is 30 now, Asha is 24 and Keil said he had wanted to marry Asha for 17yrs now so that would be when Keil himself is 13 and Asha 7. I'm not sure if a 13 yo can start grooming a 7 yo. Also, it looks like he changed his mind for a bit in between? And got Asha engaged to his sister but then again decided to confess again and tried multiple times but just couldn't get through to Asha? Also its not clear at what point Keil started viewing Asha sexually.
I recommend to keep reading, things will get clearer later. Imo it's not grooming, but a combo of love at first sight + obsession + crazy ml + oblivious mc + slow burn+ childhood friends to husbands situation
I get you what you mean but it's the way the author or artist portray it, regardless of the time and gap. Someone older who has an idea of what they feel towards someone and the receiver being innocent and thinking it's okay all throughout about it.
I just started but why are there grooming nuances here and there, a couple of times I would've just tried to hold on but they keep popping up and it's even the ML Σ( ￣□￣||)