Selena Gomez Sends Justin Bieber A Helluva Statement Using ‘Bait’ Niall Horan

Selena Gomez made quite the Valentine’s Day statement. Flying out to the UK with newly- minted hair extensions not to be with ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber, but with the unlikely Niall Horan.

Every female knows that’s a statement.

Leaving One Directions‘ least interesting member and the model rumored to have had an affair with Bieber back in 2012 aside for a moment: Are Justin and Selena trying to make each other jealous by hooking up with other people, or because they are free agents?

Just weeks after walking out of a 45-day rehab course at Dawn at The Meadows in Arizona which she checked into on January 5 — either for being addicted to Bieber and a bit “burnt out” but not so much that she took drugs (according to Gomez camp sources); or for help to withdrawi from Ambien,” Molly,” and alcohol (according to sources at other outlets) – Selena was spotted hanging out with Horan in London on Sunday.

Unbeknownst to all of us, when the “Come and Get It” starlet flew out of LAX on Valentine’s Day, she would later rendezvouz with Horan in Britain.

Both Niall, 20, and Selena, 21, kept their London meet a secret, refraining from tweeting or letting their fans know where they were.

But the cat was literally let out of the bag, when two fans saw the famous pair laughing it up on the streets of London.

Mail Online reports, one of the fans — with a Twitter handle of @Jessy Barnett — tweeted a photo of the Irish boy band member and Disney star, while another fan joined the group hug.

I’m the one with the cat face @selenagomez pic.twitter.com/0Xw0Z0YS1Q

— JBarns (@JessyBarnett) February 16, 2014

Barnett covered her face with a “cat face” mask. No, we don’t know either.

On Sunday, fans went nuts online with many speculating as to whether Horan and Gomez were romantically involved.

Apparently, rumors of a romance between Horan and Gomez have been simmering under the radar for two years, but nothing was ever confirmed or denied.

Given that Valentine’s Day is the most romantic day of the year, it’s significant Gomez chose to make a highly visible trip to see another famous pop star on that day of all days.

And if it hadn’t been for that pair of fans, no-one would have been any the wiser.

Or would they?

Enter Hollywood Life stage left.

The gossip outlet claims Selena hoped her photo with Niall would go viral so that Justin would see it and get jealous.

“She knows it’s going to p**s Justin off because he always says that 1D is trying to steal his crown,” a source purportedly told Hollywood Life.

The source reportedly claimed Selena and Niall “made out” together, but she isn’t looking for anything serious right now and is only up for “friends with benefits.”

It’s said Gomez and Niall will see each other again, with a source adding that Gomez thinks Horan is “cute and he likes her.”

It doesn’t take a genius to work out if Gomez flew to the UK to see Horan but doesn’t want anything serious, he wasn’t the one she was sending the message to.

For his part, it’s claimed Bieber regrets not contacting Gomez on Valentine’s Day and is now scared he may have lost “the best thing that ever happened to him.”

The source added, Justin feels Selena is “totally dissing him by hooking up with Niall.”

The Mirror stirred the pot further by pointing out that Horan’s ex-girlfriend Barbara Palvin was also in town for London Fashion Week, although the pair have split up.

It seems despite those melodramatic E! News quotes about Gomez entering rehab because she needed help with tools for “letting go of that relationship” with Bieber — Selena may not have let go after all.

Perhaps the Getaway star was angry Bieber didn’t call her and decided to show him she wasn’t going to sit around waiting? Who could blame her?

Bieber and Gomez became known as “Jelena” during their on/off three-year relationship, which Selena called time on early last year.

Keeping in touch as friends throughout 2013 and as recently as January 2014 when they were spotted riding Segways — posing for an Instagram two days later — things seemed to rapidly decline when Bieber was accused of egging his neighbor’s house in Calabasas on January 9.

A damaging graphic text story, which TMZ reported was fake but Radar Online ran anyway, set off a hardcore cycle of gossip reports and was unsurprisingly capped by Justin’s arrest for suspected DUI in Miami Beach on January 23. Police arrested the “Baby” singer and his pal R&B singer, Khalil Sharieff, during what they called an illegal street drag race.

Since then, Bieber has been linked with Chantel Jeffries, who rode shotgun with him in a yellow Lamborghini during the alleged drag race. It’s not known if the pair are still together.

There have also been, frankly, dubious reports of Bieber slamming Gomez as “a drunk” over her reportedly “blaming” him for her brief rehab stint.

Many of these reports, including an unsubstantiated STD claim and another claiming Bieber bragged about “taking” Gomez’s virginity, are likely to be false.

Meanwhile, Gomez was inconclusively linked to boy band member Union J’s George Shelley and Bieber wannabe Austin Mahone last year, but is reportedly still single.

Bieber is reportedly house hunting for a home in Atlanta, Georgia where he is lying low after a dramatic few weeks.

Gomez, on the other hand, was seen in London on Monday wearing skimpy shorts, a fitted black jacket, pink heels and full-on warpaint, for a night out with a girlfriend at the upmarket Sketch restaurant.

The lady is definitely sending a message.

If Hollywood Life’s report isn’t true and Gomez is simply moving on her life, there are more subtle ways of doing it.

If the reports are true and the Spring Breakers star is trying to entice Bieber back to her side by making him jealous with Niall, there are better times to play that particular game.

Like not when Bieber is shortly about to attend court in two criminal cases — possibly three — if and when Los Angeles District Attorney makes a decision to either press charges in the egg-assault case or not.

(Photo: Gomez and a friends leaving Sketch restaurant, Monday, February 17.)