a tale of two friends.

She dreams of a simple life. No rocket science complications, no emotional potholes. She believes in true love. And the good of mankind. Her 5 Cs are Care, Concern, Consideration, Cherish and Carefree. Yes, that's the epitome of the ideal life she looks forward to. Her motherly instincts grew sprouts even when she was at a tender age of 16, she wants children of her own. She leads a life that is firmly grounded, devoid of the evil temptations of money. She places relationships above all else, her family is at the peak of her priorities. She knows true freedom comes in the form of The Simple Life, Paris-Hilton-and-Nicole-Richie style.

She dreams of becoming famous. Her perception of life is even more complicated than a heart bypass surgery. Her life is full of emotional potholes, a deep, dark abyss of lost hope, despair and misery. She thinks all humans are out to rob her, whether of hope, expectations, or feelings invested. She devotes precious brain space to those sugary utopian dreams of hers, of fame, fortune and dreams ablaze. She is thirsty for recognition, and only that elusive dream of hers will quench her buds. She believes true freedom comes in the face of success.

This is the difference between two friends. Who, by some match-making of God, was brought together to share a strange affinity called friendship. They were as different as the fingerprints of two separate individuals, and yet they had so much in common.

Four days ago, in true Simple Life fashion, Simple Life Girl penned an entry on how beautiful this world is, on how true love still exists. Even though she hadn't gotten a taste of it herself, she witnessed it in all those around her. Yes, it was a truly good feeling to love and be loved. Then, four days later, she realized that her brother's girlfriend was two-timing him. In a fit of anger, she spewed a series of mild profanities, which for her case, was as bland as plain water. Her brother hadn't said a word to her, but she knew he was miserable. He HAD to be. Especially since the unfeeling girl had dated two guys at a time, and her brother had expended time and money on her, lavish gestures that were going down into the drain. Finally, she worked up the courage to speak to her brother, hoping to offer some words of comfort to his crushed soul. So, that's what she did. And, her brother told her that he had been doing the same thing. Two-timing his now ex-girlfriend, that is. Simple Life Girl couldn't believe it. Didn't want to. This couldn't be true. In Simple Life Girl's world, couples remained faithful to each other, a relationship was an entity to be preserved among two, and only two, individuals. What happened to true love? Since when did true love manifest itself in such ugly, monstrous ways? Suddenly, Simple Life Girl's found her dreams and hopes of all humanity dashed.

The fragile crystal ball that she had held so preciously in her palms, the one which contained hope and love, slipped from her unwitting fingers and smashed into pieces on the ground, revealing a smorgasbord of evil lurking behind it, lurking behind the human heart. Her ideal world was now a couple of smashed glass pieces. The blizzard of inhumanity that drizzled upon her hardened her heart a little.

In the face of such danger, what could Simple Life Girl do?

Well, she turned to Complicated Life Girl for help, of course.

Complicated Life Girl didn't bat an eyelid. Her brain cells were accustomed to such stories. In fact, nearly everything that worms itself into her brain, seems to possess some kind of deformity. Deformity of the human heart and mind.

Couples who remain faithful to each other, walk down the wedding aisle, have kids and grow old together. This was how Simple Life Girl saw the world.

Complicated Life Girl would beg to differ. Couples who don't have the integrity in them to break up face-to-face and resort to sms breakups, couples two-timing, three-timing each other, people no longer nursing heartbreaks because they no longer cared enough to do so. It was on to The Rebound Guy immediately after The Break-Up.

While Simple Life Girl saw the world in hues of rose pink, Complicated Life Girl's vision was tainted by images of hurt, betrayal and loyalty flipping faster than cook flipping burger patties.

Simple Life Girl didn't understand Complicated Life Girl. Complicated Life Girl thought Simple Life Girl was too naive.

But, the moment Simple Life Girl found her implant of the good of mankind forcefully uprooted from her brain cells, she was at a loss. Her mind wasn't tuned to react to this sort of dismal circumstances, and she found the information being rebooted.

Complicated Life Girl dutifully informed her that the institution of a relationship had been greatly abused by human beings. It stood tall in the beginning, a beacon of hope and true love. But, humans began to realize that they could do anything, they didn't need, didn't want this institution. They were more superior than that, didn't have to listen to some stupid law that govern relationships. Who says I cannot two-time my boyfriend or girlfriend? Who says I cannot break-up through an sms? And, so this law that entitled two individuals to an exclusive relationship and have decent respect for each other began to corrode under the unfaltering abuse of mankind.

Simple Life Girl lamented the death of the institution, Complicated Life Girl on the other hand, was a sporadic visitor to its graveyard. Complicated Life Girl has long accepted that it's dead, Simple Life Girl has only awakened to the idea of its death, but she adamantly refuses to admit it, prefering to inject illusion into it, struggling to revive it. It's a procedure strangely similar to Botox. It's short-term, very soon the cold gushes of reality which is Life will flood her brain with dreadful images. And, really, like the surgical procedure of Botox, Simple Life Girl is only creating a temporary dram to block out those awful images, but in reality behind the dram, is a whole lot of ugly monsters waiting to be released. Botox hides the awful wrinkles, Simple Life Girl's dram blocks out the reality of life.

Simple Life Girl questioned Complicated Life Girl why humans had left things to wither to such a miserable state. Complicated Life Girl replied that if it was up to her, she would choose misery over happiness, evil over kind-hearted, fake over genuine, suffering over comfort.

Simple Life Girl didn't understand. Because her life up till now had been a cup of clear, distilled water, sparkling in her genuine belief of goodness in this world. Complicated Life Girl was different, her cup of water had been polluted by fragments of disillusionment, leaving behind residues of hatred and bitter in her heart. Now, Simple Life Girl was slowly finding dirty bits crystallizing in her previously pure liquid.

Simple Life Girl didn't know this. But Complicated Life Girl knew the best story-tellers in the world led a life that was far from peach rosy. If they hadn't had misery, evil, suffering and disillusionment instilled in their life, the world wouldn't be blessed with such great story-tellers today.

These seemingly bad factors in life were the very same elements that spun the most beautiful stories ever told in this world. Paradoxical, but how very true indeed.

Some of the best stories that Complicated Life Girl have ever read were told by people who have gone through depression, abortion, countless of break-ups and the heartaches that follow, childhood abuse, teenage bullying and violence. These swampy polluted areas, the bad side of life, were the ones responsible for grabbing millions and millions of eyeballs.

You've got to be admit that a sinful life tainted with booze, drugs and sex sounds a lot more exciting on paper than a straitlaced, prim and proper one, skirting around one's pursuit of scholarly instincts, the great academic chase after that not-so-elusive-anymore PhD certificate?

Which is more interesting? A car crash or smooth flowing traffic? A controversial statement or a Politically Correct one? A heart-achingly break-up or a couple celebrating their 40th anniversary? How you cope with depression or how happy your life is? Which are the ones that are pulling people in like magnets, and which are the stories that, even though are heartwarming, are one in a million and repelling bored readers?

Ask yourself, who would you rather be? A miserable, talented person? Or a happy, talent-less person? Sometimes, Complicated Life Girl believes pain is crucial, one has to suffer for his or her craft. The beauty of life only surfaces through suffering.

Until then, there will always be the cold, hard clinical realities of this world. A bitter pill to swallow. And, it's only a matter of time before Simple Life Girl wakes up from her coma of illusion and stop flirting with the idea of The Simple Life. After all, Prince Charming ain't gonna come along and kiss her awake from her sleep.