Do people feel guilty when they feel guilty??

Suppose you have stolen Rs 10000/- from someone because you were in need or the money was unmonitored etc etc. But after a month or so, you start feeling guilty for the act you did. You start feeling bad about the act you committed and you find it hard to get over it. What can you do in such a scenario? I can see 3 main possibilities

1. Call up the person (assuming you have the contact details of the person from whom you stolen) and apologize and return the money.
2. Call up the person and apologize.
3. Just try to put the incident behind your mind and get on with life.

I have asked many people over the years to rate the 3 options from best to worst. Invariably people choose the 1^st as the best, followed by 2^nd and then the 3^rd. But I am always of the opinion that 1^st is the best, followed by 3^rd and then the 2^nd. Let me detail.

The premise is, you are feeling guilty about the act you did and that is because of the possible damage you have done to the person from whom you have stolen the money. Therefore 1^st option is the best thing to do. There is remorse in that and correction of the damage done. Now why do people usually think the 2^nd option is second best? That's because it appears that there is remorse (because of the apologizing) though correction factor is not considered. But how true is that? If there was actually remorse, then why evade the correction factor (assuming you have the money to return)? According to me 2^nd option is the worst because there is no remorse there instead a selfish need to wash away the apparent guilt and get on with life. It's to feel good about oneself that the mistake was somehow corrected (though it actually isn't corrected). But in the 3^rd option , there is no washing away of the guilt and it stays within oneself. The memory of the wrong behavior exhibited is the price one pays for the mistake committed. But in the 2^nd option, there is no price payed in terms of repaying nor paying in terms of remorse. Win win situation huh? Only thing is, it is coming at the cost of someone else.

So apologizing when you don't want to correct especially when you can correct is purely a selfish act and nothing else. Forgiveness should be earned after all.

P S - The above post is applicable only in contexts where correction is possible. If someone has hurt someone else through words and feeling guilty for the same, then option 2 is better than option 3.