Red crosses: evolution of the mass surrounding the system (integrated up to the radius where the density of the outflow equals the ISM density; see text). The cyan circles (labelled with the model name) indicate the models selected for the simulations presented in this work. Long-dashed green line (right-hand scale): evolution of the gainer-star surface temperature. Magenta dotted line and dashed blue line: evolution of the masses of the donor and gainer (in unit of M_⊙/ 500).