He Lost the Whole World That Night
A young couple, deeply in love, eventually got married.
One day, the man decided to buy a ring for the woman. As they walked into the department store, surrounded by an array of gold and silver jewelry, she hesitated for a long time before saying haltingly, “I don’t want this. Buy me a pager instead.”
At that time, pagers were still relatively new and cost about as much as a ring. The man was a bit surprised because he knew his girlfriend had never been one to follow trends.
In the end, with her insistence, he used the money meant for the wedding ring to buy a beautiful pager.
As soon as they returned to their new home, she clipped the pager to his waist. The man, astonished, asked, “This is a gift for you. Why are you putting it on me?”
She smiled, a bit smugly, and said, “This way, I can find you anytime! Promise me, no matter when, no matter how busy you are, if I page you, you must call me back!”
That night, they lay in bed repeatedly testing the pager’s ringtone. They felt that life was like the ringtone—bright, pleasant, and full of hope and promise.
From that day on, his pager frequently received messages like: “Honey, buy some groceries on your way home from work,” “Honey, I miss you, I love you,” “Honey, let’s go to mom’s for dinner tonight.”
Each time he saw these messages, his heart felt warm. Whenever possible, even if it wasn’t necessary, he would call her back just to hear her voice.
Once, he forgot to replace the pager’s battery and happened to be out entertaining clients until late at night. When he finally returned home and opened the door, he found his wife with red, swollen eyes from crying.
From the time he should have been off work, she had paged him every fifteen minutes. As time went by and he didn’t respond, she became more and more anxious, fearing something terrible had happened. By the time he walked through the door, she had been paging him every ten minutes.
The man dismissed his wife’s worries: “I’m not a child; what could happen to me?”
His wife, however, said she had a premonition that if he didn’t call back, he wouldn’t come back. The man patted her head and laughed, “Silly girl!” Nevertheless, he never forgot to carry a spare battery in his pocket from then on.
Later, he got promoted and earned more money. The pager was replaced by a mobile phone. One day, he remembered the ring he owed his wife and excitedly took her to the store.
But when they arrived, seeing the platinum diamond rings advertised on TV, she hesitated again and said, “Buy me a mobile phone instead.”
“Why do you need a mobile phone? We have a home phone, and you don’t go out often,” he asked.
“Platinum diamond rings are so expensive. What’s the use of wearing one on my finger? I’ve had my eye on this phone for a while. Besides, with a mobile phone, I can reach you even if you’re in the restroom.” She smiled proudly.
That day, they activated the phone’s SMS service. They played with it, sending messages to each other from different rooms in the house, having a great time.
In the evening, he turned serious and told her, “From now on, don’t randomly call or text me. I have meetings and attend important events, and it’s inconvenient to talk about personal matters.”
His wife was unhappy: “What if I need to reach you?”
“Do whatever you want,” he replied impatiently. “I’m not a child. Why do you need to contact me so much?”
Not long after buying the mobile phone for his wife, one night, he went to a colleague’s house to play cards. At first, they played for small stakes, but as the night went on, the stakes grew higher.
While he was deeply engrossed in the game, his wife called: “Where are you? Why aren’t you home yet?”
“I’m at a colleague’s house playing cards.”
“When will you be back?”
“Soon.”
Win or lose, her calls kept coming. It started raining heavily, and his colleagues suggested playing all night. Then, his wife called again: “Where are you exactly? What are you doing? Come home now!”
“I told you, I’m at a colleague’s house playing cards. How can I come back in this heavy rain?”
“Tell me where you are, and I’ll come pick you up!”
“No need!” He hung up.
Seeing this, his colleagues mocked him for being henpecked. In anger, he turned off his phone.
At dawn, having lost everything, his friends drove him home. To his surprise, the door was locked, and his wife was nowhere to be found.
At that moment, the phone rang. It was his mother-in-law, crying. She told him that his wife had ventured out in the rain late at night, riding her bike and carrying an umbrella to look for him at his colleagues’ houses. She got into an accident on the way and never woke up again.
Only then did he remember to turn on his phone. There was an unread message: “Did you forget? Today is our wedding anniversary. I’m coming to find you. Sweetheart, don’t run around; I have an umbrella.”
She had been on her way to find him and would never wake up again.
Tears streamed down his face as he read the message over and over. That night, he felt he had lost the whole world.
Thank you for reading! ” Sitestorys “
