Members of boy band One Direction, Niall Horan (L-R), Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles, attend the Royal Variety Performance in support of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, at the Palladium Theatre in London Novembe
Members of boy band One Direction, Niall Horan (L-R), Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles, attend the Royal Variety Performance in support of the Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund, at the Palladium Theatre in London November 13, 2014. Reuters/Yui Mok/Pool

One Direction, or 1D, fans could not accept that band member Niall Horan might be dating a new Australian girl. Mellisa Whitelaw was hounded with online death threats to the point of her begging them to stop, but she also admitted on her Instagram account that she is dating Niall.

Daily Star UK reports that the Australian student was spotted out and about with Niall Horan of 1D is now bombarded with death threats. Instead of laying low, however, Melissa begged the fans to stop the threats and confirmed that she is indeed seeing Niall, albeit secretly.

The 21-year-old student, Melissa Whitelaw, first received some death threats, some vowing to “f*** her up” when she was spotted getting cosy with Niall in a casino as the band kicked off their tour in Australia. The Daily Mail UK reported one fan tweeting that they were seen in a casino kissing, wherein Niall also “held her by the waist and [was] playing with her hair.” Melissa was also allegedly snapped leaving the band’s private jet with Niall as the band touched down in Sydney for two concert nights, fuelling the rumours further.

Following the reports of them kissing, Melissa is not too happy that she is receiving death threats. She posted an appeal on her social media account pleading 1D fans to stop with the negative jibes and threats. She said she has not done anything to them to deserve their mean comments.

However, on her Instagram account as well, @edgeofmydesire, Melissa said, “For all you asking yeah Niall and I are dating. Niall has not posted about it because we have decided we will wait until it’s the right time.” This made the fans send more death threats, while some just wished her not to hurt Niall.

However, according to Sun newspaper (via Sugarscape), the fans freaked out over nothing. The alleged kiss reportedly did not happen. The source of the newspaper said that Niall and Melissa are actually great friends for ages. The source added that Niall was just leaning in to talk to her because of the noise, not kissing her. With Melissa’s own alleged admission of their relationship, however, it remains to be seen if the relationship will soon be confirmed in public.

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