A LOVE STORY WRITTEN IN BURNISHED LEATHER AND SUNRISES

It was the 14th of October, the final day of Emily’s fifth-year clinical placement — a milestone in itself, worthy of celebration. She planned a carefree night out with her girlfriends, beginning at St. Alice, then returning to her flat before strolling down Ponsonby Road in search of more laughter. They chose Longroom, unaware that fate had also selected it.

Outside by the firepit, beneath the gentle hum of conversations and music, Emily returned from the bar with drinks in hand to find two strangers — Dom and Maxim — mid-chat with her friends. Dom stood slightly apart. Drawn to his quiet confidence, or perhaps the gleam of his RM Williams burnished leather boots, Emily leaned in and said, "I love your shoes — but why would you wear those in a club? They'll be ruined."

Dom grinned, without missing a beat: “You know my shoes? Let me take you on a date.”

A spark — spontaneous, electric, and somehow inevitable.

They booked a dinner at Alma for Sunday. Emily, having resigned herself to a season of singleness, was surprised by her own anticipation. She traveled to Hamilton the night before, already recounting the story of this charming, confident man she’d just met.

Sunday arrived, and with it, silence. Dom was unreachable. Emily, seasoned in disappointment, braced herself. But just as she let go of the hope — Dom appeared. Wind-tousled from mountain biking, on time for dinner, with a borrowed jacket to impress.

At Alma, they chose each other’s cocktails and shared stories like they were already written in the same chapter. Dom was impressed by Emily’s independence when she offered to split the bill. Emily was stunned by his consistency — a man who followed through, who meant what he said.

On their second date — a windswept Mercer Bay loop walk and homemade lamb flatbreads — sparks turned to embers.

Their rhythm began.

When Dom left for Rarotonga to witness his father’s wedding, Emily catsat his beloved Sky. On his return, he brought her black pearl earrings — and a question that changed everything: “Do you want to give this thing a go?”

They officially began on November 10, 2022.

Together, they navigated Emily’s final year of medical school, and the ebb and flow of life’s unpredictability. Emily met Dom’s sister on a camper van trip; Dom was pulled into Emily’s world of friends and family. Their lives, once parallel, began to entwine.

Emily moved to London for her elective in emergency medicine, and Dom crossed oceans to meet her in Nice for their first anniversary. They wandered through France and Italy, fell in love all over again in Corsica and Bologna, and ended in Winchester with Dom’s dad. The world shrank around them — just the two of them, timeless.

Emily returned home, graduated, and moved into Dom’s Glen Eden sanctuary with her miniature sausage dog, Moose. Sky, Dom’s cat, wasn’t thrilled — but after months of feline-dachshund diplomacy, a truce turned into friendship. The bed became crowded, hearts fuller.

They spent their second Christmas together — this time side by side — eating off the coffee table, their exhaustion softened by comfort. They rang in the New Year beneath Sydney’s fireworks, breathing in the promise of rest and renewal before Emily began her life as a junior doctor.

For Dom’s 30th, they planned a trip to Central Otago — a place steeped in beauty and now, memory. In the icy pre-dawn hours, they hiked Mt. Roy under stars, beating the sun to the summit. It was -15°C, their fingers numb, hearts racing. Dom dropped to one knee and asked for forever. Emily, momentarily confused by the lack of a box, opened a small pouch and found not just a ring, but a moment she would replay for a lifetime.

They toasted the sunrise with Moët — one bottle lost to the wind, the other clutched tightly — celebrating the frostbitten magic of love.

Engaged, they returned to Glen Eden glowing with joy. Wedding planning began. They gathered their nearest and dearest at Cibo in Parnell, raising glasses in gratitude for the love that surrounded them.

And then, a quiet miracle: Baby Drury was on the way.

Their love — once sparked by a cheeky shoe comment — had grown roots. Into laughter, into patience, into partnership. Into a family.

Today, they work daily at understanding, forgiving, choosing love — again and again. And somewhere in the midst of all of this, those original RM Williams boots — the very ones that sparked it all — met their end. A chaotic night out, a spilled drink, a scuffed toe, a casualty of love and living. They no longer sit in the closet, but they’ve been immortalized.

Their wedding, set for next March in the heart of Central Otago, will be a celebration of everything they’ve built: trust, resilience, joy, and the little life growing quietly within. Baby Drury will watch his parents say “I do,” the living embodiment of their love story’s next chapter. The story continues — not polished and perfect, but worn-in like the memory of those boots: full of character, weathered by time, and shaped by love.