It takes him almost two week to put his plan into action. He's a nervous wreck leading up to the point when he finally asks, even though he knows that she'll have figured it out given that he's been leaving her little presents in her can everyday for a week now - a cat soft toy (Tom from Tom and Jerry to be specific), a necklace, little trinkets from places they've been together and a collage of their pictures the morning of the day he'd asked.
He's not sure why he'd been so nervous now; she'd said yes almost before he'd finished asking the question and now, three days later, he's waiting outside her door, adjusting the sleeves of he is blazer, slightly nervous again.
When she opens the door, he finds himself completely stunned. She's in casuals, jeans and a semi-fitted tee with a light denim jacket over the top, but he thinks she's the most beautiful he's ever seen her - though maybe that has something to do with the radiant smile she's giving him. 'Hi,' she greet, her smile somehow managing to grow wider.
'Hi,' he returns, smiling right back at her.
They stay standing in her doorway for a few moments, just smiling at each other, before he realises that they've got somewhere to be. 'So, shall we get going?' he asks, offering her his hand. She nods and takes it, calling back over her shoulder to tell her sister she's going out as they leave.
'So, you're driving today?' she asks as they reach his car.
'Well, I figured Manoj wouldn't like to wait around to finish everywhere,' he tells her, opening he door for her and allowing her to get in before shutting the door and going back around to his side.
'So, we're going to more than one place tonight then?' she queries, hoping to get some information out of him.
'That's all you're getting out of me Bhatt,' he says, getting a frustrated huff out of her. 'Trust me, you'll love it Alu.'
'That I don't doubt,' she says with a laugh. 'Still wish I knew where we're going.'
'Patience love, it's a virtue.'
***
Just over half an hour later, they pull up in the car park of a seemingly abandoned building which, after a moment, she recognises to be the old Dharma offices. 'What're we doing here and why is this place so empty?'
'It's empty because it's nighttime and because I got Karan to pull some strings for us. As for what we're doing here, you'll see,' he tells her, taking her hand and leading her into the building.
He makes his way through corridors with a familiar ease, taking turns almost randomly until he pushes open the door to a room she recognises - at least from the outside. The inside of the room had been completely transformed. Gone are the tables and chairs they'd used for their very first read-throughs for Student all those years ago. Instead, there's a pile of pillows and blankets in the corner and a projector screen on the wall opposite, the title screen of 50 First Dates being displayed on it from a hidden projector. 'Was the pun intended?' she asks as they settle on to the pile of pillows.
'Remember who you're talking to,' he scoffs, 'of course the pun was intentional.' She laughs, the real, contagious type, and he grins, grabbing a remote from the floor next to him and aiming it in the direction of the hidden projector, pressing play.
The film starts and she relaxes into him, snuggling into his side.
***
After the film, he tells her he's got another surprise for her. They get back in his car and drive for almost an hour before they pull up by the beach. To her surprise, the beach is almost empty for about a mile around. 'How..?'
'This stretch is almost always empty at night, something about tides and all,' he explains with a shrug. 'But I did have to pull a few strings to get us some food,' he says, gesturing towards a stand in the middle of the beach. She looks and laughs on realising it's a street food vendor's cart. Tugging on his hand, she almost runs towards it, taking in the food with excitement. Varun watches her with amusement and adoration as she takes the plate the vendor offers her, thanking him and picking up one of the pani puri, taking a bite and letting out a sigh.
'Okay, this is officially the best date ever,' she states when she's finished it.
'Yeah?' he asks, feeling ridiculously relieved; he knows that her past boyfriends have taken her out to fancy restaurants, done elaborate things and, while he knows that she usually prefers chill times to extravagant ones, he wasn't sure what she would expect tonight.
'Yeah,' she confirms with a nod, beaming at him.
'Guess I'm gonna have to up my game to next time. Gonna be hard to beat this,' he jokes.
'VD, we could watch movies at your apartment in our pyjamas and it'd still be perfect,' she tells him.
'Really?'
'Really,' she nods; 'it's not what we do, it's just the fact that we're together.' The smile she gets in response makes her hear soar and she knows that the words she's just spoken are the most honest to ever leave her mouth.