I think that if you put effort into your story and coding it and you enjoy (and are proud of) the story you’ve created, you should try to not focus so much on # of reads. To say that they don’t matter at all would be disingenuous because of course they do- you want people to read and like your published work- we all do. So, do they matter? Yes. Should they be the only thing that matters? No.
We all start at zero reads for our stories and it takes time and effort to get the millions of reads that other, larger authors have. To get more reads you can do Read for Reads (R4R threads are popular), promote on here and other websites/apps like instagram, etc. and submit your story for reviews. There are also instagram accounts that will shoutout your story (like @storiesbylinn on ig- she does a “shoutout sunday” where she shouts out all the stories that use her # and tag her. Just don’t spam it because there are a lot of writers that can get lost in all the posts.) and just relax. The number of reads do not mean that a story is better than yours-- I know several stories that have low reads that are amazing. So, my advice is work to promote your story, and try to focus on the quality of your story and be proud of your work.
Well said and I agree!!
Thank you! 
You’re welcome!