Black Flamed Candle Books 🕯️📚 > Recent Status Updates

‘Who cares for honeyed words when honesty is enough to make me melt? Unfortunately I’m too frazzled to return the gesture. Angela has that effect on me. I embrace it wholeheartedly, yet I can’t deny how vulnerable it leaves me feeling.

‘Angela catches my hand in hers, and my chest tightens with sweet anticipation. Her gaze is earnest and unsettling in the way it affects me so.
“Well, I know you don’t have the best relationship with your family…so thank you.” She delivers a featherlight kiss to my fingertips, a whisper of affection that tingles with unspoken words. I instinctively tuck my hair behind my ear, my cheeks warming…

'It seems so childish to assign so much weight to relationship statuses. My self worth isn't validated because Angela acknowledged me as someone worthy enough to be her girlfriend. Yet part of me glows with pride at the thought that I am her girlfriend, and I can now call her my girlfriend...I love proving people wrong!'

‘It seems so childish to assign so much weight to relationship statuses. My self worth isn’t validated because Angela acknowledged me as someone worthy enough to be her girlfriend. Yet part of me glows with pride at the thought that I am her girlfriend, and I can now call her my girlfriend…I love probing people wrong.’

‘Strange how a single word can make the world sing with colour. An antsy yet delightful feeling courses through me, as if I’m housing a terrarium inside me and all the flowers have bloomed…conflicted as to whether I’m lovestruck or experiencing a medical condition. I’m like a giddy schoolgirl who finally got noticed by her crush.’

“Wait. Does that mean…I’m your girlfriend?”

“Someone here has a huge grin on their face,” Dad says teasingly. I look around to see who he’s referring to and realise all eyes are on me.

I nudge Angela with my foot and make a face—not because I’m annoyed but because I’m flirting. With my girlfriend.

“It’s not about what you lack,” I say plainly but firmly. “They’re miserable people, and nothing will justify how they treat you. Stick to your exit plan and don’t look back.”
“You’re right,” Bora concedes. “I know I’m better off without them…”

When that didn’t work, she started guilt-tripping me and when that didn’t work, she kicked me out of her car.”
“I hate your parents. They treat you like you’re their punching bag…Your parents obviously still haven’t cleaned up their act. Why is it so hard for them to be nice to you when they spoil your brother rotten?”
“I wonder the same thing. What exactly do they not like about me?”

“I don’t plan on leaving soon, not with the way my parents have been behaving.”
“What did your mom do that ended with you stranded on the highway?
“…I was stupid and let my guard down because my mom treated me to lunch and a mani.”
“…she asked to borrow two grand…it didn’t take long for the tears to start after I refused to give her money.

‘Luck is an elusive, whimsical thing, and I’m not the kind of person to rely on it. Never put your future in someone else’s hands—not unless you want them to throw it away.’

‘Maybe it’s a nature versus nurture thing. You can do everything right and your child can still be everything you didn’t want them to be…parents had a specific life script for her, and instead of following it to earn their approval, she forged her own path.’

Yummy food mentions

‘Life is trying enough as it is without your family holding you back.’

‘Their search is not without trial and tribulation, but where there is pain and suffering there is also love and devotion.’

‘She side-eyes me. Checkmate.”

Awww cute.

‘Time waits for no one, not even the capable.’

“You sure are full of surprises,” and white lies…

Oh no, I hope this isn’t foreshadowing to a messy breakup.

‘Despite all the rom-coms I’ve watched with Bora, I could never understand how a single person could become your entire world. Over-romanticising someone and pinning all your hopes and dreams on them doesn’t bode well for a healthy relationship, yet…she does feel like a dream come true.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She says.
“Like what?” I ask.
“Like you’re captivated by me.”

‘Her dad nut be known how much this…meant to her…Dropping out days a lot about his priorities—and a lot about him. Parents shouldn’t make empty promises.’

‘News flash: There will always be people better than you. Comparison is the thief of joy.’

Dating’s never been much a topic in my family, but I grew up around open-minded people. While I do feel…different, I never felt ashamed to be ace or bi.”

So relatable! And (unfortunately) the part about her mother making her sexuality about her.

“…when did you realise you’re ace?”
“I can’t pinpoint when, but it came naturally. I say. “When I had my first crush on a boy, I realised I liked boys. When I had my first crush on a girl, I realised I liked girls. When people at school talked about doing it, I realised I had a little to no interest in it.

“I’m attracted to guys and girls, I’m also asexual. Demi, specifically.”
“I-I’m ace too.”
“What are the odds, right?” It doesn’t feel real. Yet the truth is out..
“Some might call this destiny,” Angela says.
“Others would call it a coincidence.”
“Let’s compromise and call it serendipity.”

“It’s hard when it’s your family. I don’t want to disappoint them. At the end of the day, I know they mean well.”

‘I disagree with that statement. Family shouldn’t get a pass for being insensitive just because they’re coming from a place of concern.’

‘I’m baffled by Angela’s willingness to let me see into her life—welcoming me into her house, inviting me to dinner with her family…Home is an intimate place I rarely share with others. Still, it’s where I am most candid—like an unfiltered photo. Everything is natural and imperfect. One visit to someone’s house can reveal so much…’

‘—a giant painting of a little girl reading a book on a balcony that overlooks a garden—innocuous at first until you notice the macabre illustration in the girl’s book and how the rose bushes seem to be weeping over a decaying finger protruding from the ground…I hunt for more grisly imagery hidden in the painting. “She’s a fan of surreal horror in the vein of Hieronymus Bosch and Jeff Lee Johnson.”

“Just me?” Angela nods. That’s flattering. What makes me so special to receive this exclusive invitation?
I blush. Am I that transparent?
“Don’t look so forlorn either.”

‘Don’t use my art as a conversation starter to bond with me when you don’t respect it as my life-long passion. Don’t tell me you support my choices and in the same breath say you can’t help me achieve my dreams…’

‘Fall colours are full-on rioting by mid-October, and there’s a familiar nip in the air that many people chase away with cinnamon and pumpkin spice.’