Their Chemistry Developed Organically – The New York Times

“I don’t remember kissing her — I remember her kissing me,” Dr. Xiao said.

“I wasn’t expecting a lot after making out with someone, because it’s college, and people do that,” Ms. Chiang said. “But not Roy. He’s like, ‘Would you be my girlfriend? Would you like to go on a date?’”

Thereafter, the two were a couple.

He went straight to medical school after college, at the Cleveland Clinic (he also received a master’s degree in biomedical investigation from Case Western Reserve University). Ms. Chiang went on to receive both an M.B.A. and a law degree from Yale.

Dr. Xiao, 29, is now a third-year surgical resident in otolaryngology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston. Ms. Chiang, also 29, is an associate in the Boston office of McKinsey & Company, the management consultancy.

They married Sept. 30 in Paoli, Pa., in a self-uniting ceremony at the childhood home of Ms. Chiang. The following day, they had a public ceremony, completely outdoors, at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Tarrytown, N.Y., where they walked down the aisle together and exchanged vows. About 85 people attended, all vaccinated against the coronavirus.

A crucial moment in their courtship also involved medical matters, but of a much more personal nature.

Ms. Chiang developed appendicitis while in her junior year of college, and as she awoke from surgery, groggy with anesthesia, she saw only her mother and started to cry.

“Her mom told me the first words out of her mouth were ‘Where’s Roy?’” Dr. Xiao said. “And that’s when I felt she was going to be family to me.”