Hong Kong - Singer-actor Aaron Kwok's romance with model Lynn Xiong appears to be real, after the two were discovered by the Hong Kong media to have spent two nights together at his flat.

Kwok has been linked with China-born Xiong since 2006 but the two have never admitted being a couple and had largely avoided being photographed together.

But on the eve of her 28th birthday last Thursday, she let the paparazzi trail her as she drove from her flat to Kwok's condominium, just five minutes away.

She was snapped carrying her pet dog and taking the lift up shortly before midnight.

Photographers camped outside the building saw no action till Saturday morning, when she left in a dramatic spectacle.

Two SUVs with six bodyguards arrived. Four of them alighted and stood guard at the gate while two others entered the carpark in one of the SUVs.

The two SUVs later left for Xiong's flat where she was snapped getting out of one of the cars dressed in the same clothes she wore on Thursday and holding her dog.

Apple Daily said she looked tired and refused to answer reporters' questions.

Kwok, 42, reportedly spent at least HK$2,500 (S$472) to hire the bodyguards to take Xiong home.

The couple reportedly hit it off after working on a music video together in late 2006.

She was an obscure model until her rumoured romance with Kwok, who is one of Hong Kong's four Heavenly Kings, made headlines.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 12, 2008.