Chapter dedication: Angel_Gyeom

Song of recommendation for the chapter: R-Kelly - Happy People 🎶 🎶.

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They say time heals everything.

Well, they—whoever they were—were right.

The journey to healing was a very slow process, but in the end. . .in the end, it was worth it.

After their encounter with April Hale that fateful day in Chris home, a lot of things changed. Chris brush with death opened everyone's eyes to see the world in a whole new light.

One of them was Amanda.

Three months after the incident—as they now call it—Amanda divorced Alastair. It was a long, grueling process, because the prick hired the best lawyer to fight for the custody of Daniel, but through the support of Beverly, Caesar, Oswald and Chris, she won the custody of her son. Then a restraining order was filed against Alastair, and he was fired from the family company. Long story short, the man was as miserable as can be.

Lark went back to South Africa, claiming she didn't enjoy her vacation because of what happened with Lee. They let her believe that they didn't see her texting a hot single dad she met in the country on her last vacation there. As long as she was happy, they were patient enough to let her tell them herself.

Millie and her husband were over the moon as her stomach began to bulge. The gender reveal party hosted for she and Sutton by Lee, Lark and Rainy revealed that they were expecting a girl. Of course, Mille was expecting twin girls. She'd been delirious with happiness.

Rainy was still the same ole Raine Keaton. She dissed men like nobody's business, still exuding the lethal pheromone she perfect to tee. But one man managed to get past her dark walls. While Rainy wasn't ready to marry him anytime soon, she tolerated him enough to go on dates with him, sleep over at his place, and meet with his family.

Sutton and Carson finally talked to Carson's mother about her interference in their lives; it was said by Carson, of course. What mattered was that she finally backed off. Sutton visited the bakery every other day under the guise of craving for Lee's pastries, but Lee knew that she was doing it to check up on her.

King finally plucked the courage to ask Annie out. Imagine the shock everyone felt when they heard that they were finally a couple. Lee saw more of him than not. The smile on Annie's face made his presence all worth it. King was slowly initiated into their group, and now, he was family.

Rachel, on the other hand, was a lesbian. Lee wasn't too shocked about that even though she didn't suspect her friend to bat for her team. She finally got herself an older woman, whose husband died two years ago. Letty's daughter loved Rachel enough to call her mother. Lee heard wedding bells in the future of those two.

April got what was coming to her. She was sentenced to life in prison, and was condemned to a mental institution until she was well enough to serve her sentence. Some of her parents company suffered from the consequences of her actions, but the others were resurrected before it was too late.

Chris healed, although the bullet scar remained. Lee made sure to kiss the spot every time she could;and that was almost every day.

The Ross family were stronger than ever after everyone aired out their anger, griefs and hurt. They were one big, happy family now.

Beverly and Oswald was currently vacationing in the Bahamas on a boat cruise. They sent their children pictures everyday, sharing their experiences. They swore that they were happier than they'd ever been in years.

Chris' business grew a lot once the media got wind of what happened between he and April. They got a lot of contracts that he worked from home some nights. No matter how exhausted he looked, Chris glowed everyday. He was truly happy.

On her insistence, Chris sold his penthouse. He built another home in Soho for them, even though she didn't move into the house. It consisted of a large family room, six bedrooms, an out door pool, a large in-house theatre, and a huge kitchen that made Lee dreamed of all the dirty things they could do in it. After much persuasion from her family and friends, Lee finally moved into Chris' house two months later.

On a date night, Chris proposed to her. Lee had been all over the place, delirious with happiness.

It was safe to say that everything was good. Not perfect, but good.

Lee was currently making her way into the Cupid Match Agency building, on the invite of Louise Black. The June challenge was about to commence, and just as she did with Lee's set, a meet-up was set in place to guide the new participants. Only that instead of speaking with the women herself, Louise invited Lee to share her experience with them. At first, Lee declined, but after much thinking, she called back.

Lee was dressed in a flowing, floral knee-length maternity dress, on her feet were a pair of white sandals, and her woven cotton white bag on her arm, she walked into the boardroom.

The low chatter in the room died out as Louise crossed the room to hug Lee.

"Thank you for coming on a short notice, Ledia," she said, after pulling away from the hug.

"It's my pleasure doing this, Louise," Lee replied, smiling. "Your agency helped me alot. Thank you so much."

Louise's eyes filled with tears. "Hearing testimonies like yours makes me happy." She squeezed her hand. "They are ready for you."

"Thank you for this opportunity."

Lee squeezed her hands, too.

"Come, please," Louise said.

She led Ledia to the makeshift stage, still holding on to her right hand. "Ladies, I present our guest speaker for today, Ledia Arden."

The room became filled with the sounds of clapping. Some of the women looked bored, while others looked eager. Lee smiled, because she was once like that.

"She was one of the participant of last year's November challenge," Louise said, when the room became silent once more. "She's here to share her experience with us. Please give her an applaud."

The women dutifully clapped once more.

"You've got this," Louise murmured as she released Lee's hand. She left the stage and went to sit on one of the many chairs by the stage, taking Lee's bag with her.

Lee cleared her throat. "Hi, everyone. My name is Ledia Arden, and I am here today to share my experience during the November challenge with you." She let her eyes roam over each woman, taking in their faces. "I was signed up by my friend's, and since it was late, I was automatically demoted to the Unmatchable category. Befitting for someone who wasn't interested in finding love again, isn't it?"

She was rewarded with laughs and giggles. Someone even shouted a 'Hell yes'.

Lee smiled. "The best category you could ever be is the Unmatchable category, because not only will you get experience more experience, but you will also enjoy yourselves in the process.

"When I met Christopher Ross, I didn't know my life was going to change for the better. I didn't want to do the challenge with him, I even told him I was going to request a change of partner, but he managed to convince me to give us a try. Today, I am glad he did because I am happy."

Lee could see that she had their attention. They were enraptured by her words, and hopeful faces shone back at her. It made her smile widen.

"It won't be easy. You and your partner will disagree a lot, you will be frustrated when things doesn't go the way you want them to, your differences will drive you up the wall, you will want to quit the challenge, but. . ."

"But?" A ginger haired lady, sat two rows behind Louise, asked.

"If you persevere, if you communicate with your partner, if you open your mind and heart, only if you let yourself experience new love, new life, will you truly find your one true love, peace and happiness." Lee took a deep breath. "Chris and I had a brush with death twice. I lost my father during the challenge, so I pushed everyone away and tried to hurt myself. My family stood by me. They showered me with love and support. Please, during this challenge, make sure you surround yourself with positive people, people who truly care about you, because, believe me, you will need them.

"Many of you heard about the April Hale's case. The man she tried to kill was my partner."

Someone gasped. A few of the women gaped at her.

"She didn't succeed in her evil deed, which I am thankful for, because I have the most wonderful man to ever walk the earth by my side now, thanks to this dating agency." Lee paused, as she met every woman's eyes in the room. Her gaze implored them to give this a chance. "As many of you can see, I am pregnant. What you don't know is that I am currently engaged to the man of my dreams." She raised her hand to show off her simple, square cut diamond ring.

They applauded once more. Lee smiled at the shouts of 'congratulations' she received. She let the applause drag on for a while before indicating for silence.

"What I am saying is, you can have this and more, too. You are not broken, you're beautiful, you're awesome. You can be happy. You deserve to be happy. Your dreams can come true. The question now is: are you ready to take that one step?"

For a few minutes, no one said anything. Lee didn't loose her smile, but she could see that Louise was beginning to fidget. She waited. And she wasn't disappointed.

"Yes!" A woman with dyed blue hair was the first to speak. She rose to her feet, her fist in the air. "Hell yes!"

That seemed to wake the others because all of them rose to their feet, fist in the air, and chorused their yes'.

"Thank you."

As Lee stood in front on the stage, smiling at the women clapping, whistling and cheering with in a unabashed joy, her happiness tripled.

Many of these women will experience joys and pain like she did. Because as they say, you win some, you lose some.

Everything wasn't perfect. They will fight most times and had argue about petty things , but at the end of the day, they will solve their differences and got back together.

That was all that mattered.

A/N:

The end.

If you're just reading this book, then you should know that this chapter was recently added. When I started editing, I realized that I left some ends untied, like the case of Amanda, and many of you wanted to know if she divorced her husband.

Now you know.

Also, I realized that I had to write about Lee's return to the agency. While I wanted to write about her group from the November challenge coming together to celebrate the success, I decided to it this way.

I hope I was able to tie up all loose ends with this chapter.

Thank you for reading this far.

QOTC: Who was your favorite character? ❤

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