London Free Press

LOS ANGELES -- Could it truly be eternity-ever-after for Vampire Diaries co-stars Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder?

And, if so, why are they being so darn cryptic about it all?

Chatter of marriage between the Canadian starlet (who's 23rd birthday is Monday, Jan. 9) and the 33-year-old Somerhalder began last fall, shortly after the pair admitted they had already been secretly dating for more than a year.

And now the chatter is getting a little louder -- thanks to some mysterious tweets from the happy couple themselves, plus a report the couple were "positively glowing" when they got back to work last week.

It was a cosy Christmas for the pair when Somerhalder accompanied Dobrev and her mom on a family ski trip, presumably at a Canadian ski resort.

"I'm on top of the world!" an ebullient Dobrev tweeted Dec. 26 during the last day of the trip. She posted a photo of her skiing, but neglected to say where.

Somerhalder also thumbed his reactions.

First, he called Dobrev's home country a "winter wonderland" and, on the last day of the trip, wrote wistfully: "Good-bye mountain paradise."

Cryptically, he added to his last tweet: "A new paradise I am headed."

Hmmmm...

Regardless of the meaning of the obviously intentional double entendre tweets, it was a "positively glowing" Dobrev and Somerhalder who returned to the Atlanta, Ga., set of the CW show last week.

"I hate to use the word, because it's so cliche, but they actually were 'positively glowing', " said an employee of the popular program.

When the "M" word first surfaced months ago, colleagues of the actors had their doubts it would ever happen.

But, then again, the pair have always kept the rest of the cast guessing.

"There were rumours of marriage in the media, but we all thought, 'No way, Nina is too young'. "

The employee says Dobrev doesn't seem fickle like a lot of young actresses.

"They never do tell us what they're up to, but at this point, we wouldn't be surprised if they did actually get hitched."

The pair admitted last June during the MuchMusic Video Awards that they had successfully kept their relationship underground for a year.

They said it was just a few months after they began filming the series in 2009 that they fell for each other in real life.

Despite the not-insignificant 10-year age difference, Dobrev said she was attracted to Somerhalder because he was one of the few men she's met who is not a grumpy ego-maniac.

"He always has a positive outlook and positive energy, and he's always happy," she said in an interview with US Weekly.

Somerhalder also waxed emotional about his cute girlfriend: "There are a million things I love about her."