Counting Stars

"No more counting dollars..."

He was but the young man who saw this life as nothing more than a swinging vine, swinging his heart across the line--for him, life was simple and straightforward. To make it in life, you had to be successful, and to be successful, you had to make it big; change the world. And that was exactly what he was going to do.

In his face were flashing signs, to seek out and find a way to make his dreams and ambitions come true.

He was old, but not that old, yet he lacked a great amount of things a young man his age should've had while growing up. He lacked empathy, and it was quite hard for him to try to sympathize with another person. His views and opinions in life were very narrow and limited. All he knew that was most important from his upbringing was that if you want to be loved, you have to make it big.

While in another side of our spectrum, was a woman. Young, but not that bold. She too, had big dreams of her own, but she found it easier to let those dreams stay that way -- nothing more than dreams. But she was happy with her simple life nonetheless, as she found it easy to be happy in even the smaller things life has to offer.

One day, these two different, yet strangely somewhat alike stars, came across each others' path.

And it was nothing short of... an event; a fateful happening, an alignment -- it was an experience.

And the young woman saw the young man's flaws, his shortcomings, and even his equally flawed perspectives. But she didn't think that he was sold to these things, only as that he was doing what he was told in this cruel world.

Then a day came where the young man was met with a choice, a decision between his dear mother, and a newly-found friend whom he had made a promise to. Even though he should've known better, he felt something so right in doing the wrong thing, and that wrong thing was to break that trust and promise to his friend.

Yet he would've felt something so wrong in doing the right thing, as his mother--his mom, his parent, the reason he was here and in this world--would've been so disappointed and sad, and how he hated to see her with a frown. He would do anything for his mother, just to please her; just to make her happy.

All these conflicting thoughts and emotions killed him, yet he couldn't lie, if that was everything that kills him, then he'd never felt so alive. Because for once in his life, he has never seen his mother so happy and proud of him; and he has never felt so successful in his life. His dreams were starting to come true. He was starting to become truly happy.

But amidst all these happenings, he's noticed that lately, he's been losing sleep. Kept up dreaming about her, and the things that they could be. There was a new woman in his life, someone that made him feel different, but it was a good different, an amazing different even.

And she felt the same towards him, but she also became aware of his mother's influence on him. But all she can do is pray hard, and to help him realize that instead of counting dollars, he could be counting the stars instead.

And so time passed, and the two grew closer and closer, with the boy who only saw and gave importance to the big things in life, began to slowly learn from the girl who saw and loved the smaller and beautifully intricate things in it.

But as the young man's dreams became closer and bigger into the picture, the two started to slowly grow apart. They felt the love in the short moments that they would touch and see each other again, but they could feel it burn down the river every time as the young man became too busy with his new, successful life. Leaving little time for them to mingle like they used to.

Even though hope was the young woman's four-letter word, she couldn't help notice the changes in the quirky, adorable boy that she had felt immense emotions for. He was making money for both his family, and for himself. And she feared the most that she might watch him burn with it.