CHAPTER THIRTEEN
built to fall apart and fall back together
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
𝐓wo years ago, Josephine Toretto had left the love of her life standing in her old garage full of hesitation and regret, and Brian O'Conner let her. Because despite everything that happened between them, he still respected her. They shared one last kiss that sealed the deal. Josephine had wanted to give him a chance━she was going to let him even if she wouldn't say it. But Brian disappeared before she could change her mind. He had become a ghost in her house that constantly haunted her in her sleep.
For a while, she tried to find out what happened to him. Josephine didn't get that much answer. At least the ones she wanted to hear. For some reason, a small part of her will always wait for him to come back.
Josephine went back to her old ways, trying to live her life without her friends and older brother. Dominic was fine. He tried his best to communicate with them as much as possible but it was kind of hard when you're a wanted man. As for Mia, she was in her last year of nursing school and Josephine had been there for her every step of the way. She dropped out of MIT, carrying the baggage Dom had left all while trying her best to not break down from pressure. But she had her sister, and they stayed by each other through rough times.
She wasn't sure if she was ever going to get used to this lifestyle. However, cars and racing had made it a little easier for the twenty-three-year-old who only knew chaos her whole life.
Her midnight blue Honda S2000 had been ignored for years in the auto shop where it gathered dust and cobwebs. Instead, Josephine had built herself another car━a 2001 blood-red Acura Integra Type R━and modified it to her desired image. It was different but nowadays, different was a good thing for the woman who was often reminded of the people in her past. She also had grown spiteful because of it. Everything that made her remember, she wanted to tear apart.
Then one day, Brian O'Conner showed up and Josephine realized he was not the same man she'd left that day. Because while he was making his own name, chasing that badge, Josephine had stayed the same.
She could still remember as clear as the day. It was at the Race Wars in the same airport and familiar deserts of Los Angeles. Josephine had been going to them religiously ever since everything fell apart. Because it was the only thing that made her feel close to what was normal for the Torettos.
Racing distracted her from reality. Because behind the wheel of a speeding car━it makes her forget for a moment. It was the hardest thing to do nowadays so she valued her time in cars and on the racing track.
But she could never forget those pair of blue eyes no matter how hard she tried.
Josephine was in her red Integra that one afternoon, the Los Angeles heat made her turn her windows all the way down. She was on the track, surrounded by other racers who watched and cheered as she waited for her opponent to appear next to her. Then an unfamiliar gray 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 with blue stripes decals pulled up beside her. Smoke purposely billowed from his wheels as his engine made a loud noise, and when the fog cleared out, Josephine saw a familiar face staring back at her inside the car.
Her breath caught. "Brian."
"Thought I might take you on that race now," Brian uttered lightly.
He still looked the same. Well, his blond hair was shorter, the curls in them not as prominent as before. He wore a faint smile like he wasn't quite sure if this was the right moment to do that. His plain white tee fit his body, and her eyes briefly flickered to his wrist where the same stupid gray string was still attached around them.
Josephine turned her eyes back to the track, making him feel a little disappointed. She revved her engines, loud and clear that she was accepting his challenge. Her hands gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white. Brian scanned her face, his heart twisting ever so slightly when she didn't even smile. I suppose that's what losing people does. You lose the will to smile at the littlest things. Her hair was longer and her lips were stained with a darker red he'd never seen her wear before.
Josephine Toretto looked as beautiful as the day he lost her.
"It's not too late to back out," Josephine muttered, making him snap out of his thoughts.
Brian turned his gaze ahead of them, clutching the wheel. "Don't worry. I don't plan to."
Then the race started. It was funny how this was all they seemed to talk about years ago and now━it only felt like two strangers who were racing for the first time. But that's the thing, they were strangers that knew too much about each other. Brian was familiar with how she drives and so was Josephine with his little tricks and habits. So it was obvious to Josephine how she would win this race.
She did something new. Something he would never expect her to do.
Brian had to tighten his grip on the steering wheel when Josephine suddenly clipped his front wheel just as he was about to win, making him swerve a little on the airstrip-turned-track. He was surprised, watching her overtake him in that unfamiliar car she drove as she finished the short race. Josephine drove the same but it seemed like she learned a few tricks while he was gone. Dirty tricks that proved useful to her in the long run.
He wasn't even mad. His Skyline caught up to her on the emptier part of the event as she slowed down. Josephine released a deep breath she didn't know she'd been holding inside. She stopped the Integra by the shade of the abandoned airport where people used to wait, and she stayed inside her car for a while. Josephine wasn't stupid. She knew Brian had followed her, and when he pulled behind her in his new car, Brian stepped out in the sun, basking in the heat of Los Angeles.
She watched him in her side mirror, knowing objects in the mirror were closer than they appeared.
For a second, Brian paused. His forehead creased like he was thinking very deeply about what to say to her. He would be lying if he said he didn't miss Josephine Toretto. Because when he was away, all he did was look for her in everything but she was never there in the first place. He could never quite look at other women and not remind him of Josephine. They weren't her, and that was the problem. She was all he saw when he was gone. Josephine haunted him.
And so Josephine did. They found solace in each other's arms that night, naked bodies tangled in white sheets, and desperately holding on to one another as if they were afraid they'd disappear if they let go. In that vulnerable moment, Brian and Josephine spilled their guts to each other and they shamelessly scooped them up with their trembling bare hands. Because if wanting each other was a crime━they were prepared to get thrown behind bars for life.
She never asked him once about the wrong he did but he could tell it lingered from the tip of her tongue. Because no matter how many times she showed him the side of her nobody else sees, Josephine still held a resentment for the ruins he had left her.
Then just like that, Brian did it again.
Josephine found his FBI badge peeking out from inside the pockets of his discarded jeans on the floor. Her face flashed with confusion then anger. Maybe her reaction was unnecessary and irrational but the past suddenly came crashing down on her as she replayed the scenes like a broken record. Her grip tightened around his badge and she tried to remain calm as her eyes landed on Brian sleeping on the bed of the motel room.
He seemed peaceful for the first time. Josephine didn't know that though. But it was becoming too much for her. She tried to convince herself that him being an FBI Agent didn't mean anything but she would be lying to herself. Dominic was still on the run. And her mind was going a quarter mile thinking about why Brian was there. They were only pointing to one thing and her heart sank in realization.
I suppose Josephine could never have him the way she wanted. Expecting too much was her first mistake.
So Josephine made another hard decision. She left before he could wake up from his sleep. But not before stealing one last look at his face, hoping she wouldn't forget the way he laughed and smiled and looked at her like the whole world could be crumbling and he wouldn't even blink.
That was the last time she'd seen Brian O'Conner and left him with nothing but the faint reminder that she had lied in the same bed with him.
Another three years passed since then. Now Josephine was a little older than last time and her hazel eyes no longer held the same warmth. At twenty-six, she found out the hard way the difference between living and surviving. She wasn't a teenager anymore. Everything she does is calculated now and there was no time for little games or unimportant people.
After Mia graduated from nursing at twenty-three, she took on medical school to be a doctor and Josephine had never been prouder of her sister. She stood up as Mia's personal pillar whenever things got hard. The youngest Toretto was now in her third year of medical school and thriving to be the best surgeon after she graduated. (At least one Toretto would be successful, and somehow, that was enough for Josephine).
Other than that, Josephine had a problem. Dominic had stopped calling them. His letters, too. At first, the girls tried to contact him but he never answered. They did everything from phone calls, text messages, emails, and even a bunch of other stuff they hadn't heard before until now. It was like he just disappeared into thin air. Obviously, it made the sisters worried, thinking something wrong had happened.
They still kept the letters going at his last address and left long voicemails to his phone number. Sometimes the voicemail contained meaningful words then sometimes Josephine got too frustrated she threatened him to respond. After those, she would apologize reluctantly before sending postcards and pictures of her and Mia now and then to keep him updated wherever he was.
Josephine had to admit it felt like talking to a concrete wall.
The only people that they had proper correspondence with were Vince and Leon. Letty was a little harder to message since she seemed to be always doing something secretive which honestly made Josephine crazy every time. Letty never tells her anything nowadays, but the woman had been the only one who actually sees them in person in random places.
Then one day, a piece of dreadful news was delivered to their front porch. Mia broke down like never before that morning. But Josephine was the one who stood stubbornly beside her and let her cry into her chest.
Letty Ortiz was dead. Somebody had murdered her. And Josephine Toretto was going to find out who.