Weird rants about a weird memory

Sometimes on nights like this a memory from a distant past would pop into my head, and it got me thinking: What would I do if I met a person an old friend of mine (whom I've lost contact with) really hate?

Well that has actually happened when I was in polytechnic, I met this dude who seemed pretty nice, until I remembered that his name was a little familiar. I was sure that I have never met him before. After conversing for awhile, I finally figured out that this guy was someone my friend Benjamin accused of hitting on his girlfriend at work. Which came to me as a little bit if a shock as the person I met whom I've kinda hit it off with would actually be such a scumbag, knowingly hit on a man's girl even though he knew they were attached. Ben got really upset back then and I as his friend, got upset at this dude I never knew too.

What did I do? Nothing too extreme really, instead of socking him right there or berating him in public for his actions towards my friend, I asked him what actually happened then. It felt wrong to get mad at a stranger when you guys hit it off pretty well just moments ago. Turns out, it really was him! He explained that it was a misunderstanding and he was just making friendly conversation and my friend did not take it too kindly. Which kinda made sense because I know what sort of person Benjamin was like too.

At this point it wasn't really about if I should trust his words (bear in mind that me and Benjamin has lost contact for awhile), but whether would it be right if I took "revenge" on his behalf after so many years, since he and his girlfriend back then has already broke up as well and I know he would never be grateful for what I would have done as Ben and I never truly close although we hung out everyday. I decided to play it safe, excused myself and go talk to someone else. If I couldn't help Ben, the least I could do was to not form a bond with this guy.

Today when I look back, I feel like I have done the right thing. At the end of the day I feel that loyalty correlates strongly to the degree of friendship you and someone else has, if Ben was never going to be grateful fornwhat i did and we weren't close, i should not feel that bad. But i somehow cant help but ponder, if one day this happened again but to someone closer to me, would I do what I did back then?

Sorry for the long post, surprisingly me and Melvin still remain pretty close (at least that's what I think) despite knowing him about the same time I knew Ben. It's random but I'm glad to have friends that ive known for half my life and more :)