Soul ( Mate) Searching

When it comes to love stories, there are some expectations: a meet cute, obstacles overcome and love prevailing. For Benjamin Kheng and Naomi Yeo, their love story is about McDonald’s, Hell’s Kitchen, and spontaneous dancing. It’s a not just a story about lovers –it’s a story about best friends.

- Clara How

For those who haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Ben and Naomi in person, they are storybook cute. Opposites clearly attract: Ben is larger than life, speaks of the cuff and punctuates sentences with gestures and laughter. But if Ben is the storm, then Naomi is the calm. She holds your gaze when you talk, takes a few seconds to think before she answers. She’s mindful and deliberate.

When they come together, his tone steadies, her face lights. He reaches for her hand; she cups his chin. They sing snatches of songs, and when they break into dance, it’s clear that they’ve done this many times before.

“I wish there was something more dramatic about our relationship to tell you, so it would make for a more interesting story,” Ben laughs ruefully when we sit down to talk. It’s somewhat true: even the roller coaster of 2020 didn’t seem to faze them. There were definitely changes, like Naomi temporarily moving into Ben’s home during Circuit Breaker to use his home studio for work, having to delay their home renovation plans, and scaling their wedding plans down to a small, intimate ROM ceremony come February 2021. With all the stress and worry about plans being upended – still no drama?

None, apparently.