MUMBAI: Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder crushed their fans’ hearts after they decided to end their relationship in 2013. The actors starred together in popular teen drama series The Vampire diaries and started dating in real life after their character Elena Gilbert (Nina) and Damon Salvatore fell in love with each other on the show. However, the relationship did not work out.

ey decided to call it quits in 2013. While the actors never publicly spoke about their breakup, they did share a few cryptic posts on social media right after their split without directly addressing the issue. His fans thought Ian took a slight dig at his former lover by posting a vague message on his Twitter handle. “A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: People change and forget to tell each other -Lillian Hellman, playwright (1905-1984),” he tweeted

While he did not mention Nina’s name in the post, his followers instantly put two and two together. Nina, however, did not reflect on the breakup for a very long time. Even though their relationship did not work out in real life, the actors continued to play each other’s love interests on the show. The two eventually moved on in their real life and Ian started dating The Twilight Saga actress Nikki Reed. It was after the new couple’s pictures surfaced on social media that Nina posted cryptic quotes on her Instagram account.

A series of pictures of the couple jogging and shopping together went viral online on July 20 2014. And on July 21, Nina shared an image on Insta that read, “You cannot hang out with negative people and expect to live a positive life.” She posted another quote the next day that read, “I give, you take, I break, you fake PITTY, I bleed, you dive in deep, into my blood, as thick as syrup. Tell Me are you a mosquito?”

Later the same day she posted another quote. “Pretty words aren’t always true and true words aren’t always pretty.” She posted a few more quotes and her fans thought she was finally trying to wrap her head around the fact that her ex-boyfriend had moved on. Nina had previously revealed that she never wanted to date Somerhalder, but she simply couldn't resist her feelings for him, even though she tried. “Sometimes you can't help who you have a connection with, and you can only fight it for so long,” he had told Seventeen magazine.

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Even after their breakup, the actors maintained that even though their romantic relationship did not work out, they were good friends, putting an end to all the rumours. However, the speculations resurfaced after the actress decided to say goodbye to the show in season 6, around the same time Ian and Nikki got married. Ian started seeing Nikki Reed in 2014 and after dating for about 6 months, he popped the big question. The two walked down the aisle in April 2015 and Nina said goodbye to the show the next month.

Speculations suggested that Nina left the show because of Ian. However, Nina later stated that she made the choice to explore more options in her career. It was also reported that Nikki and Nina were friends before she started dating and then eventually got married to Ian. People criticised Nikki for going behind her friend’s back and dating Ian. Nina, Ian and Nikki later shut down the baseless rumours after they posted an adorable and cozy picture of them happily posing for the camera.

In his caption, Ian denied the rumour that Nina and Nikki were friends before they started dating. “After years of websites pretending these two badass ladies knew each other well and baseless, false information of backstabbing and hatred from low-brow websites filled the minds and hearts of fans... They finally were able to get together for their first real dinner. Only love here- always has been always will be,” he wrote. The three are still friends.

Last year, during her appearance on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Nina defended her decision to stay friends with the couple. On the show, a viewer asked Nina about her relationship with the couple and if it ever gets weird. “I don't think that's weird at all. I think that's great. I think, 'Why can't everyone be friends?' I think that they have a beautiful baby, and they are happy and so am I, and what's bad about that? I don't see any problem with that," Nina said.

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Credits: Pinkvilla