Black Flamed Candle Books 🕯️📚 > Recent Status Updates

‘A sweet, delightful feeling blooms in my chest. It’s bright and yellow like the sun and feels a lot like hope. After everything I said, Angela still wants to be with me and dream with me. If that’s not forgiveness, I don’t know what is.’

‘I’ve been so fixated on the characters living inside my head and the validation they bring me that I’ve been neglecting the people around me. It’s humbling…to realise just how flawed you are.’

‘Our greatest joy can also bring us the most pain.’

I could relate how Lynda truly said how she was feeling and with everything being factual. I do think she could’ve handled herself better though. I also agree that Josie should’ve spoken up way sooner. I also think Lynda would’ve benefited from having more communication with her father.

I do understand where Lynda is coming from. I do think her aunt could’ve been more considerate and understanding of where she was coming from. I understand she was supporting Josie too, but I could tell Lynda felt misunderstood.

“No one likes a quitter. Giving up on your dream is like giving up on yourself, and if you’re the only one who ever believed in yourself and your dreams, where does that leave you? With nothing.”

‘Anger can be destructive and productive…I continue to rely on myself. That’s how it’s been and how it always will be. I don’t know why I ever thought otherwise.

It’s like he didn’t even want a daughter…even though he’s had so many years to try with me. Not like I need him anyway.’

‘…the solution to her struggles isn’t to give up. She’s come too far quit…Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.’

‘Where there’s creativity, there’s possibility..’

‘Nothing worth having comes easy. If you want something, you have to fight for it, or else you’re nothing but a dreamer.’

“No sixteen-year old should have to emotionally support their parent.”

‘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.”