Let’s be honest -We’re now so used to members of One Direction being linked to female human beings that we no longer spit out our breakfastevery time we hear the ‘d’ word (dating, that is).

It turns out there's no rest for the wicked at the weekend either, with new reports claiming Liam Payne has been ‘secretly dating’ Cheryl, who has allegedly started divorce proceedings after reportedlysplitting from Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini last year.

This is not exactly what we expected to wake up to this morning and we have SO MANY EMOTIONS.

According to The Sun, the two and their ‘matching’ tattoos started dating in December after Cheryl’s split from Jean-Bernard, with their romance said to be the ‘real deal’ and Liam thought to be ‘madly in love’ with Chez.

#Leryl/#Chiam (we’ll work on that) met five years ago, when fetus Liam auditioned for The X Factor, and became friends in recent years thanks to their mutual connection with Simon Cowell and Modest.

A friend of the pair claims: “Cheryl and Liam are in a relationship. It was unexpected but they’ve both made each other incredibly happy.”

A second friend added: “Cheryl has obviously known Liam for many years. They’ve always got on well because they are both northern and share many of the same interests.

“But there was never anything romantic between them in the past. Their relationship developed very quickly in December after the X Factor final where One Direction gave their final performance before starting their hiatus.”

Another friend told The Sun that Cheryl’s been helping Liam with 1D’s hiatus (GAH), saying: “Liam was really struggling with the idea of life after the band to begin with — being in the spotlight and that level of fame had started to get to him.

“But he’s been so happy with Cheryl. He’s been telling people close to him that he’s madly in love.”

Not only that, but people are also wondering whether Liam took that photo of Cheryl, above.We know, it’s so much to take in in one go.

As usual, the fans have given us some of the best reactions:

AS YOU WERE.

- By Rachel Pilcher