It depends. If I helped my daughter when she was in college, it doesn’t mean she couldn’t go on vacation ever again later on. But it was not a loan. It was a parent helping their college student kid. Which is a normal occurrence.

If these were distant relatives or not even relatives, I’d feel different. I wonder if they didn’t want money back because they thought you are still struggling but just trying to repay the debt. So they said it’s ok. I’d probably still mail them a check or send money via pay pal or send them VISA gift card or other gift card via mail/email etc How close are these people to you that it would be ok to accept monetary gift from them or how much money was it? If it was $50 I’d not care. If it was $500 I’d feel a bit different.

Did these people express concern about the situation or you just think they might?