WHAT could have caused the six-year romance between celebrity lovebirds Ronald Cheng and Charlene Choi to fizzle out?
Popular web portal NOWNews.com says Charlene, 28, who is one half of the Cantopop duo Twins, "could no longer tolerate Ronald's flirtatious nature".
Two young starlets have been rumoured to be the cause of the break. Both are almost 20 years younger than Ronald.
One of them is sexy actress Lukian Wong, 19.
She got to know the 38-year-old singer-turned-comedian after they collaborated on the second season of TV variety programme Beautiful Cooking, shot and aired last year.
The Hong Kong media had reported that Ronald "liked taking pictures" of Lukian striking seductive poses in bikinis.
Late night suppers
He has also reportedly been spotted "enjoying late night suppers" with the bevy of young actresses featured on Beautiful Cooking.
For Charlene, the "breaking point" came when she discovered a bikini – believed to have belonged to Lukian – in Ronald's room.
The other woman rumoured to be involved in the love tangle is Hong Kong model-actress Angelababy, 20, who starred opposite Ronald in the recent movie All's Well End's Well Too 2010.
At a recent Guangzhou press conference to promote his new comedy Just Another Pandora's Box, Ronald was quizzed by Sing Tao Daily if it was Angelababy who had "come between" him and Charlene.
Looking listless and dispirited, he replied that "there were no third parties involved" in their split.
"It was a mutual decision. I hope everyone will stop probing into this, as it's a private matter."
Charlene choked back tears when she broke the news about the couple's split.
But she remained tight-lipped when approached by reporters in Beijing while promoting her latest film Beauty On Duty.
She insisted "it was a mutual understanding that led them to call it quits and not because of third party problems".
She also described the relationship as "a beautiful memory that will stay in my heart".
"We are still good friends," she added.
None of the women involved – Lukian or Angelababy – has commented on the rumours.
Ronald and Charlene started dating after playing lovers in a 2004 film, Hidden Heroes.
Just earlier this month, there was talk that they had secretly registered their marriage in Los Angeles in 2006.
Still, there are some who speculate that their split could be a publicity stunt to promote Charlene's pop group Twins.
Chinese entertainment weekly Southern Metropolis described it as a "strategic move" to bring attention back to Twins, now that Charlene's teammate, Gillian Chung, is back.
Gillian, 29, left the Cantopop scene temporarily in 2008, after being identified as one of the women embroiled in Edison Chen's infamous sex photo scandal.
Twins has not released any new albums since and Charlene has had moderate success as a solo recording artiste.
This article was first published in The New Paper.
