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The role of love in society is absurdly confusing and varying and the answer is never clear right away. It's a lesson people learn with varying degrees of difficulty, some more than others. I swear I have been in a few similar situations; where loveual temptation struck and I was confused and/or guilty. But I talked directly to the people involved and everything turned out fine. In the end, it was merely a fun learning experience, and I can safely say we could look back on it and laugh.
Here's my advice: don't beat yourself up. You're a good person, and speaking directly to your friend is the key to solving the problem. When someone doesn't know everything about a person, they tend to fill in gaps with their own ideas, and that can lead to negative effects. But if you clear up every single detail, things will work out just fine.
I wish you luck Clone. You're not a bad person and you shouldn't feel that way. You've only learned an important life lesson, and that's good.