I need help with this opening...

Hi everyone, I need your help. So recently I played this game. I ended up winning anyways but my opening was terrible and I cant figure out what the best move is in this position ..

So, if you take the knight it results in a fork, giving the opponent center control.

First of all, if you do this, I don't see anything too bad, but someone told me not to let that happen.

So, what should I do in this position? I really don't understand.. If one of y'all can tell me that'd be awesome.

Ant.