Sending shockwaves throughout the entertainment world, Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid announced their split on Tuesday, taking to Twitter to issue separate breakup statements within minutes of each other. Eagle-eyed fans pointed out that Malik had unfollowed Hadid on Instagram, before sending out a heartbreaking tweet that announced their breakup. Hadid followed suit with a personal announcement of her own, on the micro-blogging platform. “Gigi and I had an incredibly meaningful, loving and fun relationship and I have a huge amount of respect and adoration for Gigi as a woman and a friend,” wrote Malik. “She has such an incredible soul. I’m grateful to all of our fans for respecting this difficult decision and our privacy at this time, we wish this news could have come from us first. We love you all. xZ,” said Zain. On the other hand, Gigi claimed the following: “Breakup statements often seem impersonal because there is really no way to put into words what two people experience together over a few years … not only in the relationship but in life in general,” wrote Hadid. “I’m forever grateful for the love, time, and life lessons that Z and I shared. I want nothing but the best for him and will continue to support him as a friend that I have immense respect and love for. As for the future, whatever’s meant to be will always be. xG.” Following through a timeline of their romance that spanned over a period of two years, the duo’s chemistry first blossomed in the November of 2015 when they met at a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show afterparty. They often stepped out in public and many a time paid tribute to one another on social media. Their relationship ran its course after the honeymoon period, which is why they had to take a short break from dating in 2016 but reconciled months later. Despite the pair’s differences like any other normal couple, the two seemed to be going strong in recent months. Hadid frequently made time from her continued runway tour of the world, to visit Malik at the farm where he would be recording his music, and fans also believed Malik’s recent chest tattoo of an eye was a shoutout to Hadid. The couple was spotted getting up close and personal with their mothers in a few pictures as well, and only two months ago Malik and Hadid were seen celebrating the former’s birthday. But when did the magic of their relationship even begin to fizzle out? The 22-year-old supermodel and 25-year-old singer were last seen photographed together leaving her home in January, and proof of them drifting apart can really just clearly be seen in the Instagrams. A close examination of Malik’s presence on Instagram reveals that the star has definitely been going through some dark and dreary somethings for quite a while, and we failed to take proper notice of it. Zayn has spent the last couple of days posting “sad boy selfies” to his Instagram handle, covered in overlays of text which read out sad prose and poetry. Lines like “There is no meaning, it’s just aesthetics” address topics like anxiety, and an indication of trouble or either the fact that these posts could be a possible double for song lyrics. His “morning jam” series and late-night freestyle vocal sessions began to spring up amidst the unsettling, unexplained, and unusually heavily filtered selfies, and after all, Gigi Hadid was nowhere to be found in the long series of unexplained posts, most of which were posted solo, without any captions. Then came pictures of him “Chillin” by the pool and a selfie on Tuesday where he wrote, “When Life throws you lemons, catch em so they don’t hit you in the f–king face.” Sadly, we should have been able to confront our nightmares with the heartbreaking truth of this breakup, unfolding all along in front of us. And hopefully, Malik has finally caught those figurative lemons in his lessons of life. The writer is Editor Lifestyle and Culture at dailytimes.com.pk. She tweets @EeshahOmer and instagrams @eeshaww Published in Daily Times, March 17th 2018.