Of the many patrons who pass through Sunnyhouse, a Korean cafe owned by Sunny Song, one of the most cherished was Zoro: a street cat who loved to hang out on their roof.
Song and her family fed him regularly, assuming he was a sweet boy in need of food.
Until one day, they noticed Zoro’s belly growing and realized the cat they’d assumed was a boy had been keeping a secret.
“I wondered, maybe it’s not Zoro ... maybe it’s Zara,” Song told The Dodo. “And we found out … that she was a girl, and she was pregnant with babies.”
Zara ended up giving birth to four kittens on Sunnyhouse’s roof, three of whom were very sick. But before Song’s family could intervene to help, Zara took off with her one healthy baby and left the fragile ones behind, putting the sick babies in a dangerous situation.
“One fell down behind a ditch near our bathroom,” Song said. “And [one] was crawling up the roof … there was a hole that was connected to our wall, and he fell behind the wall.”
The hole in the roof led to a space behind Sunnyhouse’s kitchen wall. And if it weren’t for the baby’s loud cries for help, the family wouldn’t have known he was there.
“There was a very distinctive meow,” Song said. “He was meowing and meowing. We were like, ‘Do you guys hear a meow somewhere?’”
Once the family realized where the cries were coming from, they dropped to the ground and attempted to break into the wall. After a few failed attempts, they visited a nearby hardware store and generously received the tools they needed.
“We told them what was going on,” Song said. “They said, ‘You don’t have to buy any tools, we’ll lend them to you!’”
With their loaned tools in hand, the Song family returned to the cafe and began breaking into the wall. The cries continued on the other side as they chiseled through the wood paneling until they’d created a hole big enough for a kitten to pass through.
Finally, they could see their smallest patron: a tiny black-and-white kitten with gunky eyes, whom they named Wall-E.
You can watch footage of his rescue here:
Sadly, two of the kittens didn't make it. But Wall-E seemed as lively as ever, even with his eye condition. And everyone in the family, from Song to her rescued cats at home, fell instantly in love with him.
“Wall-E is so adorable, I took him home,” Song said. “I already have three more cats that I also rescued from a cafe. They all love him. He’s very easygoing, he loves being petted, he’s very playful … He likes to sleep right next to my face, which I love, or on my chest.”
When he’s not cuddling with his mom or playing with his large orange siblings at home, Wall-E can usually be found at Sunnyhouse with his family. He is the cafe’s newest employee, and he is already exceeding expectations.
“Everybody loves him,” Song said. “He’s already doing the best he can do because he’s luring everybody to come to Sunnyhouse.”
After socializing, Wall-E will usually curl up on his bed on the shelves and take a nap until his family is ready to close the shop for the day. And they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Wall-E will be our baby,” Song said.
Wall-E’s getting healthier each day, and his family loves to see him grow. While they’re still treating his eye and hoping for a speedy recovery, they’ve fully welcomed him into the family and remain thankful every day that Zara chose their roof to have her babies.
“He will be with us forever and ever because how can you say no to this sweet, wonderful little guy?” Song said.
