I thought he had eyes just for me & was falling in love

My friend has been inviting me to hang out with his teammates & a few fans when they are playing football. That is when a certain guy saw me and asked for my number. I didn’t meet him outside of the group hangout until recently. He got a 2 months job outside of town; he invited me over and I went. I was there for 2 weeks.
During the 2 weeks stay, he was sweet & progressed to tell me he loves me. He introduced me to his friends via video chat & to his mum over the weekend. This time around, I decided to hold onto sex for a few weeks & I told him that I would have sex when it was right. He agreed, but he would keep nagging me for sex & sadly, I let him masturbate on my body. I started overthinking if all this was for real or it was just for sex, so I decided to head back home. He is staying at a bnb, so the cleaning lady came by before I left. We started having a casual conversation, and that’s when she told me that the day before I came, there was another smaller girl who had been with this guy for a few days, and she believed that there would be another one after me. She described the smaller girl as very shy, naivé, very young, and seemed to be a teen. My heart sank! The guy is 23, I am 24.
Now, I have 3 feelings here:
1. I am happy that I held onto sex, so I’m not emotionally entangled (coz, unfortunately, that’s what happens to me).
2. I feel stupid for having traveled 6 hours to meet him & stayed for 2 weeks, yet he wasn’t the to-be boyfriend I was hoping for. (We had been progressively talking for a month). How is it that I think I’m healed, and that I’ve done the inner work, yet I attract such guys? By telling me the L word and introducing me to his mom, family, and friends, it felt special.
3. I fear for the reputation of being associated with him. People don’t know, but his gossip queen female cousin, who he told I was with him, will definitely start telling people. So, I feel like I have two choices here:
A: take the higher road, and ignore what people think of me being one of ‘his numbers’. Just tell him that we just can’t workout and just let it be.
PS: when he’s back, we will be seeing each other at the hangouts, so…yeah. Plus he could maybe be a useful resource as a job contact, but as a friend???
B: call him and tell him that I know about the younger girl he was with the day before I came, so he can no longer love me. Also, tell him that I will not be associated with his reputation, so he should tell his buddies that we weren’t together or I will tell them myself when I meet up with them and they ask about us. Choice B is for me disassociating myself from him & even denying having slept there & just say that I was passing by on my way to a wedding (a wedding that I actually went to while there).

What do you think I should choose? A/B?

Lastly, I feel depressed because I’ve been doing the inner work, yet I fell for such a man. Maybe you can recommend books, podcasts, or any material to support me in my level-up journey. Thank you so much for your input.