LOS ANGELES — It was a big 2012 MTV Video Music Awards night for Chris Brown and Rihanna.

The former couple both won major Moonmen: he took Best Male Video and she grabbed the night's most coveted, Video of the Year.

But it was a moment that didn't take place on the broadcast (but was captured by one of MTV.com's "All Access Live" cameras) that got people talking. As broadcast cameras cut away from Best Hip-Hop Video presenters Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, our all-access lenses caught Rihanna, now dressed in a white Adam Selman gown, walking back to her seat just as she spots Brown.

The "Turn Up The Music" singer — who has reportedly become close to Rihanna again three years after pleading guilty to assaulting her on the night before the 2009 Grammy Awards — made eye contact with Rihanna and she walked over to greet him and they shared a quick embrace, before she hugged Bu Thiam (Akon's brother), VP of A&R at her label, Def Jam. Then, Rih Rih patted Brown's bleach-blond head and strode away.

A photo of the hug was immediately uploaded to Instagram and, of course, it got tongues wagging all over again for the are-they-or-aren't-they couple.

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Last month, Rihanna sat down with Oprah Winfrey and opened up about her complicated relationship with Brown, saying that he was the "love of my life," but that they are now working to rekindle their friendship and are still "very close." She denied, however, that they have become romantic again. "He's in a relationship of his own. I'm single but we have maintained a very close friendship," she said. "We've just worked on it little-by-little. And it's not easy."