"I'm well aware of 'who I am,'" Bruce answered, "Just not 'how I see myself.'" Dr. Kisugi certainly wasn't wasting any time--not that Bruce had expected smalltalk. Even if "making the patient comfortable" was usually one of a doctor's top priorities.

"I mean, until awhile ago, I was pretty sure I was just like most other guys. Not in the size of my paycheck or anything," Bruce amended quickly, "but in the things that mattered. I've a loyal family, a job I believe in...even a wife, finally, after all these years."

He thought only briefly of how ironic it was that "Susan Wayne," a woman who'd been featured only briefly in his life due to a criminal's "get rich" scheme and pheromones, could wind up as any sort of noteworthy detail in his "history."

Bruce lowered his eyes only briefly before refocusing them on Dr. Kisugi, expression sincere--almost baffled.

"I'm just...not sure, exactly. Where it all went wrong."